The Mandalorian & The Grey Jedi
by KoraRen
Summary: Takes place right after the events of the Season 1 finale. The Mandalorian is trying to get good work and avoid Moff Gideon, Ter'a is a former Jedi ready to come out of a long exile after the Purges and the rise and fall of the Empire. Together, they try to find the kids tribe, family, planet, species... something, they end up finding something else. Slow burn lots of lemons.
1. Chapter 1 - Introductions

a/n - Imagine Ter'a to have a British-American style sort of accent.

**Chapter 1 - Introductions**

Crashing around the forests of Takodana and who knows how many other worlds was _not_ what he had in mind when Din rescued the kid from the Imperial client on Nevarro. The Mandalorian stopped running for a moment, pausing behind a particularly sturdy looking tree to catch his breath. He had to get back to Maz's Castle to get the kid and get off this damn planet, but he knew she'd kill him if he brought fighting to her doorstep. Maz Kanata hated fighting at her castle. It was strictly for relaxation and neutral ground; a pure, comforting respite from the hardships of the galaxy. Din smiled inwardly at the lengths he was going to to keep the anger of a tiny, millennia old alien at bay, but he knew the importance of the sanctuary of the castle and didn't want to bring trouble there nearly as much as Maz wanted to keep it away.  
Thank Gods that she was looking after the kid when he'd excused himself back to the ship to get her shipment. Every now and then he'd run jobs for her to get special supplies she'd needed, couldn't do herself, and didn't trust anyone else to do. It was easy credits and much safer work than he normally got. Maz had trusted him for several years to get some of the castles more valuable supplies and he'd never failed her yet.

_Today had started out so smoothly_, he mused as he began to move again. He'd arrived on Takodana to bring Maz some very valuable cases of Merenzane Gold fresh from the distilleries on Coruscant. But he hadn't gotten ten yards from the exterior of the castle when he was set upon by some Imperial troopers stepping out of the trees. Obviously here for the kid, Din had to lure them away from the castle towards the Razor Crest so they'd think the kid was there, he just hoped they were all stupid enough to think he'd lead them right to the kid. Once he'd gotten into the sanctuary of the trees it was a simple matter of picking them off one by one until he could safely return to Maz sans troopers and plus a few cases of liquor so he could retrieve his payment, grab the kid, and be off.  
By his count there had been about twenty Imps in total, and which he'd whittled down in the forest to four. As he doubled back to catch a pair unawares, he made use of one blaster bolt to fell both of them as they realized his presence far too late. _Only one pair left_, he thought as he trudged through some thick brambles, snagging his cape... he knew that the squad had known where the Crest was and figured he might lure them into a false sense of security by allowing them to make it to the ship unimpeded and eliminate them there. Din made his way back to the Crest as quickly and quietly as possible and made use of the jet pack he'd gotten from the Armorer on Nevarro to hoist him onto the top of the Crest to pick off the two remaining stormtroopers once they emerged from the tree line.  
He only had to wait a few minutes before he heard the cracking of twigs beneath boots and raised his blaster for the kill.  
The last thing he expected was for a woman to walk out of the trees. Where were the troopers? Was this a friend of Maz? Another bounty hunter set to the job by Moff Gideon? On this last thought Din didn't think so... after the events on Nevarro, he figured Gideon would have taken things personally and wanted to hunt him and the child down on his own. Din was brought back to reality when he heard the tumble of bodies and saw both remaining troopers fall at the woman's feet. How did she kill them?! He would have been pulled from his moment of surprise surely by the sound of her weapon?  
The woman, unfazed from apparently killing two armed stormtroopers without any apparent weapons herself, maintained a relaxed posture and gazed intently at the ship raking the outside of it with her eyes. Finally, her eyes came to rest on his hiding place behind the dorsal wing, and she called: "You can come down Mandalorian, your enemies are gone."

In another time and place Din might have thought her suspect, a bounty hunter simply couldn't trust most people after all... but he rose from his place nonetheless and made his way down to face her. Upon closer inspection she was, by all accounts, quite beautiful, though there was a distinct hardiness and lethality about her. She had long dark hair wound up in an intricate braid that served both form and function as it flattered her face and features, highlighted her wise, warm, and calculating bright green eyes, and remained out of her face. She wore a slate gray tunic with palls that fell to her knees and nearly covered her black trousers completely. She also wore boots that matched her tunic in color and had hook and loop straps and thick black soles. Around her waist she donned a black leather utility belt with some sort of strange metal cylindrical device attached that didn't appear to have any obvious function. He noticed though that she did not have a blaster.  
At about five foot four inches, she was about eight inches shorter than he was, but she had an unmistakable and powerful presence. If he'd believed in that sort of thing, he might have said her aura glowed in the air around her.

"Where did you come from?" He asked.

"The trees", came the cryptic answer.

"Have you been following me?" He was suddenly suspicious...

"Not entirely."  
Even with his helmet on, he knew that she sensed his confusion and was amused by it.  
"I saw your ship enters the planet's atmosphere and felt… a presence."

A 'presence'? What did that mean? He was even more confused now which was beginning to annoy him.  
"How do you sense a presence?" He asked her, slightly incensed.

She merely gazed at him with a serene yet shrewd expression. Clearly, this woman had secrets of her own that she wasn't quite ready to reveal, which made him suspicious again.

"I have job to finish," he told her after a moment, turning away and rolling his eyes. He decided she wouldn't kill him and that was enough. He needed to get off this planet. No doubt more Imperials would turn up soon enough and he wanted to be long gone by then, and this woman was in the way of him delivering the Merenzane to Maz.

He pulled his repulsor hand truck down the ramp of the Crest and had begun to load the cases of liquor onto it when the woman came up behind him and began to help. He stopped and looked at her in clear confusion behind his helmet. She turned with a case in her arms and gazed back at him. She's strong, he thought. He had the feeling, and not for the first time since she'd presented herself, that she could see his expression, which disconcerted him. But all she said was, "I'm Ter'a... Ter'a Jinn".  
Then she said nothing at all and continued loading crates without looking at him again.  
Din sighed inwardly, this girl, Ter'a, found something interesting about him when he'd landed and came to investigate, whatever the hell that meant, but she clearly wasn't a friend to the Empire or it's remnants, but that didn't mean she was necessarily a friend to him. Although she was attempting to reach out to him and was drawn to him somehow...?

Confused and wary, Din resigned himself to her help. If nothing else, she was helping him finish the job quicker, and he supposed that was something, enough perhaps, for the moment.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Walk Back

**Chapter 2 – The Walk Back**

The return walk to Maz's castle was interesting to say the least. Din had a walking companion that wasn't the kid and therefore had the ability to form coherent sentences, and she was fascinating to observe by all accounts.  
Firstly, she barely seemed to make any noise while they moved through the forest. While Ter'a moved gracefully through the trees and over boulders, Din made a considerable amount of noise and became slightly albeit temporarily self-conscious, feeling as though he was absolutely blundering along like a blind mud horn. Eventually he reasoned that he had the repulsor hand truck loaded with valuable liquor to manage and she did not, which eased her burden and increased his.  
Secondly, obstructions they encountered seemed to be of very little difficulty for her. He even started to anticipate them and became keen to see how she dealt with them, but always came out surprised when she seemed to mount them easily.  
Finally, she was an extremely vexing conversationalist. She was clearly young, perhaps somewhere between thirty and thirty-five, not much younger than himself, but she spoke with an enlightened sort of tone. Not that they talked much... Din, after all, was more used to being alone, and was firmly introverted and reserved. Rather, she spoke more to him, saying things that didn't really require answers or indeed acknowledgement at all even though she knew he was listening. Indeed, despite himself, she had his rapt attention. She talked about the planet mostly, its inhabitants, how old the forest was and what sort of creatures lived in it, and Maz and her castle, among other things. It seemed she and Maz, from what he gathered, were indeed old friends and that Ter'a had been on Takodana for quite some time, though she didn't say how long and he didn't ask.

With about twenty minutes' walk still to go she stopped abruptly and said, "You never told me your name Mandalorian. Or are you concealing that as well?"  
He slowed to a stop behind her and considered her for a moment. No one really ever asked for his name… they normally just called him "Mando" or "Mandalorian". And as there were so few Mandalorians left, the generic terms never caused confusion. In addition, his profession dictated a certain level of preferred anonymity which led to him not minding the added mystery of being nameless. The fact remained however, that no one had called him by his true name in years, in fact he wasn't even sure if there was anyone still alive who knew or remembered...?

Finally, he said, "You can call me Mando if you like," and began to walk again. Ter'a moved into step alongside him and asked, "Is it that you don't want anyone to know or because you don't trust me yet?"

"Both."

"I didn't think Mandalorians made a habit of concealing both their names _and_ their faces?"

"They don't... not necessarily."

"Then why do you?"

He stopped again. She was getting to root of it and he wasn't sure why he never told anyone his name. It was true that he didn't _need_ to be anonymous... He was annoyed he didn't have a good answer, but he didn't want to tell her that either. If only to keep the streak alive.

_How dumb_, he thought. She seemed trustworthy enough, though he didn't trust her yet, but still, he settled on the truth.

"I haven't told anyone because no one asks; it helps to be faceless and nameless as a bounty hunter; and to be honest, I'm not even sure there's anyone alive still who actually knows it. The last time someone used it was before I had my first armor."

It was the most he'd spoken all at once in quite a while. He wasn't sure why he said the last part, but it felt like it went well with the rest of his explanation.

Ter'a seemed placated with this answer though, because she nodded and walked on beside him in a comfortable, contemplative silence.

About ten minutes to go... now it was his turn to ask the questions... "What sort of 'presence' is it that you felt when I arrived? And how could you feel it so far away?"

She looks sideways at him thoughtfully but kept walking. Like him, she obviously had her own mysteries that weren't quite ripe for revealing. She thought deliberately on her answer before she gave it, making him even more curious. "I felt a strong kindred presence. I sensed it because I have a special ability to do so. Perhaps, one day, when I trust you more, I will tell you about it."

So, she found him a kindred spirit? Din considered this for the duration of the walk, not knowing how he felt about it, and indeed still curious on how she felt it from so far away.

At long last, Din and Ter'a arrived at Maz's castle only to find Maz herself emerging from it.

"I wanted to scold you for bringing Imperial Stormtroopers to my doorstep Mando, but I see you and Ter'a took care of them!" Maz slapped Din around the knees for what she clearly considered a transgression but followed it up with a small pat and a nod of approval as she began to look over her cases of Merenzane Gold. "I can always count on you, Mando, to procure my most valuable supplies... thank you." She came back around and stopped in front of him.

"I suppose you are eager to leave Takodana for the time being?" She eyed him shrewdly. Smiling under the helmet, Din nodded and said "I just need to pick up the kid and my payment."

"Yes… come inside for a moment, we should talk about this child before you go."

Ter'a, interest clearly piqued, said questioningly, "Child?"

Din wasn't particularly keen on Ter'a knowing about the child, but Maz wasn't known to hide her thoughts and opinions if she felt certain connections. She looked at Ter'a quite seriously and said, "Yes, I think you ought to meet him." She turned and began to walk back toward the castle with Ter'a in tow.

Another hitch in the day, he thought, sighing. Din wasn't happy about anyone he didn't trust outright to know about the kid. Though he was thinking in spite of himself and having just met her, that Ter'a was quite a trustworthy person, especially if Maz trusted her. At nearly 1,000 years old, Maz was particularly gifted and well equipped with the experience to decipher if someone could be trusted. Rolling his eyes, Din began to pull the hand truck toward the doors of the castle after Maz and Ter'a.


	3. Chapter 3 - A New Alliance

**Chapter 3 – A New Alliance**

By the time Din had heaved the hand truck of Merenzane into the castle's entry way and through the cantina area, Maz and Ter'a had already seated themselves at the table in Maz's study where she did her personal business. They were talking quietly as the kid sat on Maz's lap. He looked quite content with her and gazed around innocently and curiously. Din released the handle of the hand truck and moved to sit on the other side of the table from the Maz and Ter'a. They continued to talk and only stopped when he had sat and folded his hands on top of the table and waited.

"So, this child…" Maz began.

"This is the presence I felt," finished Ter'a definitively.

Din blinked inside his helmet. He'd thought it had been himself with whom she'd felt this presence. He'd either forgotten the kid or didn't realize that he was one with whom she'd sensed the "kindred spirit"… he was after all a toddler for his species. Din wasn't hurt by this revelation though, he didn't know Ter'a, and once she pointed out that the kid was the presence… well, he was smart and observant… some of her actions and behaviors made a little more sense. There was something definitely strange about the kid's abilities and once he considered it a bit more, there was something equally strange about hers. He went over the last hour or so in his head and it all made a lot more sense. Her "aura" if he dared to call it that, her sense of presence that he'd felt, the lack of noise she'd made in the forest, the way she was able to mount any obstacle with ease, even her wise manner of speaking. The more Din considered it and thought, the more he considered the possibility that Ter'a had the same sort of powers that the kid did.

As he tuned back into the conversation. Maz was gazing at the child and telling Ter'a that there was something special about him, something about the Force. _Whatever that is_, he thought. He'd heard of the Force, but didn't know what it was… Members of the New Republic would tell each other, "May the Force be with you," to which the other would reply, "And also with you," but that was essentially all he knew.

Ter'a raised a hand a let the kid grasp her index finger and closed her eyes as though in concentration and then opened them again, looking into the child's eyes while he looked back into hers. She seemed to see something special in him, probably this power they both seemed to have… it seemed to connect them somehow on another level. Din narrowed his eyes in interest. Perhaps Ter'a could help him with the kid? Maybe she could help him grow in these strange powers and learn to use them better? It seemed like he'd probably need a mentor as he grew anyway… this power didn't seem like something that one could just harness on their own, and he sure as hell couldn't be of much help. Ter'a seemed disciplined at it, although he still wasn't entirely sure she had them...? She hadn't done the same things he'd seen the kid do… although he still had no idea how she'd killed the stormtroopers near the Razor Crest and he had seen the kid try to choke Cara Dune when he thought she was trying to hurt Din while they arm wrestled. Maybe that was how she did it? _At the very least_, he thought, _she'd be good in a fight._

"Mando, I think you should let Ter'a accompany you on your journey to find the child's home and species." Maz looked at him as she spoke. "I think that she can help you with the child and assist you in your work and journey."

Ter'a sat up and pulled her hand away from the kid. "I can't leave this planet. It's too dangerous," she shook her head. "Besides, I'm no bounty hunter…"

Maz looked at her. "The Empire is gone child. There is peace now. As much as there can be in this galaxy." She paused and put her hand on Ter'a's. "You don't have to fear the Emperor, his Inquisitors, or the Sith anymore. You should be able to live _freely_. Perhaps you can seek out Luke Skywalker?"

"No," Ter'a said in no uncertain terms and she pulled her hand away. "You're right of course… but I won't seek out Skywalker. My time in that world is over and I've heard he found others to rally to his cause. _I_ live in the Grey. But," she paused and looked at the child, then at Din, and sighed heavily. She seemed to have made up her mind. "I will go with the Mandalorian and help him and child. You're right, I've been in exile too long."

Din sat back. He was glad they were asking for _his_ opinion in all of this… But, it would be nice to have a partner in his work for once. Someone he knew would have his back, it would make work easier. It would also be nice to have someone to watch the kid while he got some sleep or needed time to himself, both of which he was sorely missing these days.

Ter'a seemed to catch on to his initial thoughts. "I will accompany you, Mando, if it doesn't bother you?"

He leaned forward again and bowed his head. If he tired of her company or she of his, he could bring her back to Takodana or take her wherever else she'd like to go and be on his way again…

"Ok," he said, "I don't mind. But keep in mind that bounty hunting is dangerous, and the kid can be a handful." In a not so soft whisper he added, "Tries to eat every damn thing he can get his hands on…" To which Ter'a laughed softly behind her hand.

Then smiling she said, "and you keep in mind," her eyes looked wryly through his mask and into his eyes, "that I'm not a babysitter, but a mentor. _And _I can handle myself."

On that, Din had no arguments.


	4. Chapter 4 - Taking Flight (Din's POV)

**Chapter 4 – Taking Flight (Din's Perspective)**

After all the arrangements were made, the sun had sunk low on Takodana's tree filled horizon and even though he knew they should get a move on, Din wasn't keen on leaving until he'd had some quality sleep. He hadn't slept a full night's sleep in several weeks and was feeling distinctly worn down after all the events that had transpired after he'd gone back to Nevarro to rescue the kid. Maz had left shortly after their conversation about Ter'a coming with Din and the kid, and left the pair alone. Before Din had the chance to say what was on his mind, Ter'a spoke.

"I know it had to be some time since you've had a quality night's sleep Mando. Perhaps you should take a room here at the castle and sleep a full nights' sleep without that helmet before we set out."

Din looked at her. She was an enigma. Even though most people knew that Mandalorians kept their helmets on in the presence of others, she spoke a common knowledge fact in a way that suggested she knew much more about his people than most.

"Thanks," he said. "You're right, I think I will… I'm too exhausted to go back to the Crest tonight."

In all honesty, he could have made it back there easily if he'd wanted to, but Maz's castle was a safe place, he trusted Ter'a with the kid, and no more troopers were likely to come until morning after sufficient time had passed for those who sent them to decide that the ones they'd originally sent were dead. "I'll meet you at the castle door at first light?"

"Sure," she said nodding, then added, "I'm well-rested so I'll gather supplies tonight and load them in the ship. That way, we will be ready to leave first thing."

Din nodded, thanked her, and left.

Maz gave him a private room on the top floor of the castle, far from the hustle and bustle of the cantina, which was sometimes busy late into the night. Din closed the door behind him as he entered and locked it. The first thing he did after locking the door was remove his helmet. He'd kept it on, even in the presence of the kid for days and days at a time now, so it had begun to feel stifling rather than comforting for the first time since he'd begun to wear the armor. Normally, he'd leave it off for the long stretches that he spent along on the ship. As he pulled it off, his curly brown hair fell free from it and his face felt the cool air of the Takodana night. He closed his eyes and sighed contentedly. He walked to the window that looked out on the lake and opened it to allow the soft breeze to enter and sat down in the chair near it. Even though he was thoroughly exhausted from the last few weeks, the day's events were swirling in his mind and he'd wanted to ponder them for a while before attempting to sleep.

As he sat, he reached up to his shoulder and began to undo his armor and eventually got down to his briefs. It felt amazing to have a fresh breeze on his skin after being so long in his armor and in the confines of space. After allowing himself a few moments time to stare at the nothingness in the sky, he decided he should take a shower and clean his clothes before sleeping; he'd do his thinking in the shower and kill two shriek-hawks with one stone.

After removing his briefs and putting all his clothes in the ion cleaner, he turned it on. It wasn't quite the same as running them through the full water cycle, but it'd get them just as clean, and Maz's ion cleaners even had a scent release at the end that would make them smell just as fresh too, if not as soft. He ventured into the washroom now and turned on the shower. After a moment to allow the water to heat up, he stepped into the warmth and began to wash off with some earthy smelling soap. As he scrubbed, he zoned out and began to think…

The girl, Ter'a, appeared to have the same mysterious power that the kid did. She was clearly well-equipped to handle herself, though she didn't seem particularly motherly. He didn't need or want her to be motherly, he just wanted and needed her to guide the kid in the right direction as a guide or a teacher. Granted, the kid might still be too young yet and may be in need of some parenting. In this case, it would be nice to have someone else to help him. He wasn't, after all, very paternal himself, he didn't know how to raise a kid, and he wasn't particularly keen to do so. He never really wanted a family, but rather, a sense of belonging. Wasn't that why he adopted the kid as his own after all? Hadn't he seen the child as a lost foundling, alone in the universe just like he, Din, had been? So, he reasoned, he'd wanted to help the kid in the same way the Mandalorians had helped him as a child, to save him from a premature death at the hands of the Empire or the Separatists or whomever. He'd also wanted a clan more than a family. Even the other Mandalorians on Nevarro had banded together underground, but Din, who never stayed in one place for long, had never fit in there. The kid and Ter'a were now his clan, at least for the time being, and this made him feel content.

As he moved on to washing the sweat out of his hair, Din, content that he'd come to a satisfying conclusion about his new companions and his desire to have them around, began to ponder this Force that Maz and Ter'a had talked about. He'd heard of it before from the Mandalorians of the Tribe. They'd spoken of religious zealots who used it, channeled it, and bent it to their will, but that was all he could recall. The Force was nothing _he_ could use, and he therefore set the information aside as unimportant. But now, it seemed very central and important. The kid had the power and so, it seemed, did Ter'a. He'd have to ask her to give him some history and context on the Force if both of his travelling companions were going to be using it so that he could ensure maximum efficiency of the group, but that would have to wait until tomorrow at least.

After rinsing his hair, Din didn't feel quite ready to exit the shower for the bed yet. He still had one more thing he wanted to think more about. Ter'a. She was a mystery, albeit a pleasant one. She'd been unafraid to approach him, she'd easily dispatched two armed stormtroopers despite having no obvious weapon, and she was shrewd and intelligent.

In addition, she was quite beautiful. He thought of her face. Her green eyes were brilliant, deep wells of knowledge, experience, and skill. There was something else in them too… Sadness? Loss? Loneliness perhaps…? She _had_ suffered something in her past, that much he understood, and he found that he wanted to know what it was. To comfort her? To understand her? Both, he realized.

He exhaled heavily. This was a completely new desire for Din. Sure he'd had a few rendezvous with women in his life, but he'd never particularly cared about any of them and they were all very short in duration as he wouldn't take his helmet off. Most recently, there was Cara. She was the closest he'd felt to what Ter'a had called a 'kindred spirit', but they'd shared nothing physical. Certainly, it would be difficult for him to have _real _relationship with a woman as the Creed dictated that if he took off his helmet for another, he couldn't out it back on. At least, not in the same way. He'd always thought that there _had_ to have been some Mandalorians throughout the centuries that had had relationships and still put on the helmet at the end of the day and felt no sense of shame, but it had never been an issue for him to consider for himself. How would he feel about trying to put it on again, if he decided to take it off?

He thought again of Ter'a. Her pink lips, her dark hair, her smooth skin. She was alluring to him to be sure.

_Although, _he thought abruptly; _you don't even know her. You've seen plenty of beautiful women…_ It was true, Ter'a wasn't the only attractive woman he'd ever run across in his travels throughout the galaxy. But still, there was something about her that was different.

He thought, as he turned off the water and grabbed the towel on the rack and wrapped it around his waist, that there was more to her than met the eye, and he would have to find out what it was. He was beginning to feel dazed with tiredness as he pulled his clean briefs out of the ion cleaner and slipped them on; that shower had been like a tranquilizer… His last thought while sliding into the soft sheets and drifting off to sleep was that he couldn't have been more grateful to her for taking the kid tonight; he was incredibly grateful at the very least, for a night of silence and solitude.

Just as Takodana's sun was beginning to make its appearance and ascent into the sky for a new day, a hard banging at the door shook Din awake prematurely. He sat bolt upright in his bed and looked around for his armor, and his helmet in particular. He slipped from the bed and looked at the door's console camera to see who was waking him up so urgently. It was Ter'a and the kid. He hit the comm and asked groggily through the door, "What is it?"

"They're coming," came the response. "Let me in."

Sighing, he said, "Just a second." He moved back to the ion cleaner and pulled out his tunic and trousers and slipped them on, followed by his socks. Then he moved to the chair to step into his boots. He returned to the bed table and picked up his helmet and slid it onto his head just before unlocking the door. She burst in looking tired with a pink flush to her cheeks and stopped as the door hissed shut behind her. She looked him up and down, and suddenly he felt quite naked. He looked down at himself, then back up at her. Not only, he realized has it been quite some years since anyone had seen his face, but also seen him with so little on. Sure, he was technically fully dressed, but he felt naked without his armor and weapons. He hadn't even buckled his boots.

"What?" he asked her self-consciously, knowing full-well what she was looking at.

"Nothing, really. I've just never seen a Mandalorian so underdressed." She laughed at him despite the urgency of the moment as she set the kid down on the bed. Din watched as he started to climb into his still-warm sheets.

"Well, I was asleep when you started banging on the door," he remarked grumpily as he began to finish dressing. He spared a sideways glance at her. For her part, aside from looking quite tired now, she looked well put together. She'd obviously kept her word and stayed up all night preparing the ship and supplies, all while watching the kid.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"They just came out of hyperspace about five minutes ago. I've moved the Crest closer to the castle in the night, so it's just outside the castle now. I also finished preparing the ship and supplies a few hours ago and I've been monitoring the skies from the cockpit for the last three or four hours."

Din paused in his ablutions to gaze at her momentarily as she finished. He was impressed with her already. Okay, it was all obvious stuff that she'd been doing, and he knew she was smart, but he was still impressed with her preparedness nonetheless. She looked back him with her arms hanging limply at her sides. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. I just didn't know you were actually going to finish all the prep stuff during the night."

"I told you I was. You didn't trust me? Or didn't believe me?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's not that… I just… didn't know if you'd be finished, or if you got tired…or" he trailed off with a shrug.

Ter'a looked at him slightly annoyed, "I told you that I can handle myself. Did you not believe me?" She looked and sounded somewhat affronted.

Now he stopped what he was doing (fastening his cloak, which now hung precariously from his right shoulder) and walked over to her. He was considerably taller than her but that didn't faze her, and she glared up at him through his helmet and into his eyes.

"I never said that I didn't think you were capable, or that you couldn't handle yourself." He looked down at her, standing closer than was necessary, and saw that she looked to be analyzing his every word, looking for a lie. He took a step back… he had that feeling again. That feeling that she didn't need him to remove his helmet to see him, and once again it unsettled him. She let out a long low breath. He finished, "I just thought it was going to take you longer since you had to look after the kid, that's all. I told you he was a handful." He turned away and began to rearm himself with all his many weapons.

"I left the child with Maz while I worked…" she trailed off quietly. "I didn't want to have to trouble you this morning…"

She waited for him to finish with his weapons before sighing and stepping close behind him and taking up his now trailing cloak in her small hands which was still only half-attached, to finish fastening it to the hook on his left shoulder. He could feel her brushing against him as she stretched and struggled to see where the hook was since she was so short. Turning his head to the left to look down at her, he smiled to himself to see her finally struggle with something, but he bent his knees nonetheless to help her see in order to attach it. After she had hooked it on her hands lingered for a moment before trailing down his arm lightly and sending a tingling sensation down his left arm and back up and through his body. Time seemed to slow briefly as they gazed at one another so close together. But, as usually happens in life, they were shaken from their moment by the shuddering sound of a ship entering the atmosphere nearby. Din turned away and grabbed the kid while Ter'a opened the door and they ran out.

Din ran with the kid behind Ter'a down the spiral staircase of the castle and out into the daylight. They could see the Imperial dropship approaching and he knew they'd be able to outmaneuver it once they got into the air. They ran together up the ramp and into the cargo area. Ter'a hit the button to close the ramp and then turned to accept the child as Din offered it to her so he could go up to the cockpit and get them off the planet and into hyperspace.

As he climbed the ladder, Din wondered vaguely, how did they know he was here? Perhaps the Moff had spies? Although he'd only just gotten to Takodana when he was waylaid… unless the spy was on Coruscant and knew where he was headed? Oh well, time was pressing now and he and Ter'a would consider that once they'd gotten a ways away. Shaking his head, Din had to concentrate on the moment. He had to get himself, Ter'a, and the kid somewhere safe before he could consider the next problem.

Once he reached the cockpit, he turned on the rest of the systems (Ter'a had the tracking system running already to monitor Takodana's airspace. The engines flared and lifted the Razor Crest off the ground and Din began the process of exiting the atmosphere. He steered the ship in the direction away from the dropship and punched it as fast as he dared while still inside of the atmosphere and so close to the castle. If he'd damaged Maz's castle with the heat and back wash of the engines, she'd never forgive him.

Just as he'd suspected, the dropship was too slow and underequipped to give chase but something new cropped up on his sensors. A bunch of small craft had assembled just outside of Takodana's atmosphere. Din had a sinking feeling he knew what they were and why they were here… He hit the comm and called Ter'a to come up to the cockpit and strap in. As soon as she came up, she strapped herself in and held tight to the kid and moments later they entered space and found themselves the target of a dozen TIE fighters. Din had to use all of his flying prowess to fight all of them off and prepare to make the jump to light speed. He chose Coruscant as his destination for its dense population which would make it easy for them to hide, and began to prepare to make the jump while guiding the automatic weapon systems to fire on the TIE's. He felt Ter'a watching him multitask, not wanting to disrupt his concentration. The child was quiet too. They took several hits to the rear and he redirected the deflector shield to the rear of the ship to prevent further damage. The weapons systems destroyed six of the ships by the time the jump calculations were ready. Din hoped the hits to the back of the ship hadn't damaged anything prior to their jump. Two more hits came as the stars became lines of light and they left Takodana's system at lightspeed.


	5. Chapter 5 - Taking Flight (Ter'a's POV)

**Chapter 5 – Taking Flight (Ter'a's perspective)**

Ter'a sat and watched the Mandalorian work to maneuver the Crest into the hyperspace lane all while monitoring the ship's status and weapons systems. She was enthralled by how he worked so cohesively despite his ignorance in the Force. She knew she'd have to explain it all to him eventually, but for now she was content and entertained to see him so aloof for once. She suspected that while he often flew by whichever way the wind was blowing that he rarely felt out of control and she liked that. It was nice to see someone so in tuned with who they were and so calm about the events outside their control. It was rare for her to see.

Once they had made the jump successfully, he sat back for a moment, clearly relieved that nothing had gone horribly wrong. Then he sat up again and checked the systems once more before unfastening his restraint and standing up. He turned around and looked down at her and motioned for the child as she gazed back at him.

She handed him the child.

He gave her chills. And not in a bad way. He was clearly at the top of his food chain and she couldn't imagine that there was much in the galaxy that would faze him terribly. He had been confused about all the Force talk last night to be sure, but he took it in stride. She knew that when there was a free moment or when the right time came, he'd ask her to explain things to him.

As he strode past her and down the ladder to the cargo hold, she sat back and thought to herself about their initial meeting.

She felt a presence about his ship the moment it broke through the atmosphere. She was in the middle of chopping some firewood and stopped immediately to look up at the ship as it came in for a landing. Intrigued, she'd dropped her vibro-axe and wandered the woods' familiar trails to Maz's castle where she saw a Mandalorian in shiny beskar armor entering the castle but she felt the presence pull her back the other way, toward his ship. At the same time, she'd felt a sense of foreboding and thought it best to head to the ship and see what events unfolded. Lo and behold she saw a dropship full of stormtroopers arrive just as she reached his ship. She waited in the shadows for some time reaching out with the Force and watching his progress back to the ship accompanied by less and less troopers. Finally, he passed her unawares and broke out of the trees to fly onto the top of his ship and lie in wait for the remaining two. _He was smart, _she thought. Lure them into false security, believing they had found their prize, they'd likely let their guards down, then he'd strike before they'd realized he was there. She did him a favor though and took care of them for him.

She felt his apprehension when she came out of the trees. But it soon melted to a mild curiosity and she was able to coax him down. From several yards apart, they had appraised each other. Once he seemed satisfied, he'd asked where she'd come from. "The trees," she'd said. This annoyed him and made her smile to herself.

"Have you been following me?" He asked suspiciously.

"Not entirely." Even through his helmet, she knew that she was confusing him, but he seemed unfazed. "I saw your ship enter the planet's atmosphere and felt… a presence."

She laughed to herself that he was getting more annoyed as his confusion increased.  
"How do you sense a presence?" He asked her, slightly incensed.

She gazed shrewdly at him, waiting to see what he would do next.

"I have job to finish," he said shortly.

Still feeling the kindred presence, she approached slowly as he pulled a repulsor hand truck from the cargo hold and began to unload some cases of Merenzane Gold onto it.

_So… _she thought, _he's here to run a delivery of valuables to Maz._ She'd seen his ship before, she realized, and knew he'd run deliveries for the old alien before, but now there was something different. A resolve and new posture that finally made him stand out to her and not just another bounty hunter. She decided that their fates, at least for the present might be tied together and so she moved to help him. The Mandalorian stopped and looked at her as she hoisted her first case. He saw in her that she had her own secrets, but she wasn't ready to divulge them to a stranger, and yet, it put him at ease.

"I'm Ter'a… Ter'a Jinn," she said, and went back to the task of the crates.

The Mandalorian seemed to sigh to himself, resigned to her help.

The walk back was fun for Ter'a. It had been quite a few years since she had taken a walk with someone other than Maz. The Mandalorian wasn't bad company, though he was very quiet. She did most of the talking with him interjecting questions here and there while she babbled on and on about the forest, it's creatures, and Maz and her castle. He seemed to find her, despite himself, just as interesting as she found him. She noticed that he was keenly aware of how little she disturbed the forest around her as she moved through it and how easily she moved over obstacles. Of course, he didn't know that she was using the Force, but she liked that he'd noticed; _he's refreshingly observant_, she noted to herself. She also found it funny that he'd been momentarily self-conscious about the noise he was making before recovering himself.

She noted that despite all she told him about the planet, he didn't ask her how long she'd been there. It seemed that he was being polite.

Suddenly, she realized that somehow she'd let him get away with not providing his name. Knowing that it wasn't strictly a Mandalorian custom or that part of the Creed prohibited it, she said, "You never told me your name Mandalorian. Or are you concealing that as well?"

He slowed to a stop behind her and she turned and saw him consider her for a moment. She realized the answer, at least in part, before he gave it: no one bothered to ask. She also sensed that, by and large, he didn't mind being unknown. Undoubtedly, it made things a bit easier for him. "You can call me Mando if you like," he said as he began to walk again. She danced into step alongside him and asked, "Is it that you don't want anyone to know or because you don't trust me yet?"

"Both."

"I didn't think Mandalorian's made a habit of concealing both their names _and_ their faces?"

"They don't... not necessarily." He hesitated but did not elaborate.

"Then why do you?"

He stopped again looking at her and she stopped too. She felt that she might have struck a bit of a nerve accidentally. She didn't want to upset him. And she found that she wasn't necessarily prepared for his very honest answer…

"I haven't told anyone because no one asks; it helps to be faceless and nameless as a bounty hunter; and to be honest, I'm not even sure there's anyone alive still who actually knows it. The last time someone used it was before I had my first armor."

Ter'a looked at him for a moment. She was taken aback despite herself. She was however, content with his answer and it gave her much to think about regarding the him. She nodded and they walked on in a comfortable, contemplative silence.

With about ten minutes to go in their walk he asked, "What sort of 'presence' is it that you felt when I arrived? And how could you feel it so far away?"

She looks sideways at him thoughtfully but kept walking. She was really beginning to like this observant behavior he had. But, like him, she had secrets of her own that she wasn't ready to share. She thought carefully on her answer before giving it. "I felt a strong… kindred presence. And I sensed it because I have a special ability to do so. Perhaps, one day, when I trust you more, I will tell you about it."

The Mandalorian seemed lost in thought for the duration of the walk.

At long last, though she wasn't keen for their walk to end, Ter'a and the Mandalorian arrived at Maz's castle and saw Maz emerging from it. "I wanted to scold you for bringing troopers to my doorstep Mando," the alien stated, "but I see you and Ter'a took care of them!" Maz slapped the Mandalorian around the knees for what she clearly considered a transgression but then gave him a small pat and a nod of approval as she began to look over her cases of Merenzane Gold. "I can always count on you, Mando, to procure valuable supplies... thank you." Ter'a watched as Maz came back around to face him and eyed him shrewdly, "I suppose you are eager to leave Takodana for the time being?" Ter'a knew he couldn't hide his intentions from Maz. The Mandalorian seemed to smile to himself as he nodded and said "I just need to pick up the kid and my payment."

"Yes… come inside for a moment, we should talk about this child before you go."

Ter'a, interest clearly piqued, said questioningly, "Child?"

Feeling instantly that she'd trod on his privacy here, Ter'a scolded herself, but Maz wasn't known to hide her thoughts if she felt connections between things. She looked at Ter'a quite seriously and said, "Yes, I think you ought to meet him too." She turned and began to walk back toward the castle without another word and Ter'a followed without hesitation. She felt behind her with the Force and felt the Mandalorians' reservations about this new turn of events. He still didn't trust her yet, which was fair, though he had no reason not to. Ter'a also saw that despite his hesitation, that if Maz trusted her he wouldn't argue and soon she felt him draw closer and he followed them in.

Ter'a and Maz were seated in her study with the kid when he walked in behind them. They were talking quietly about the kid, whom Ter'a found fascinating and adorable. She wasn't particularly keen on children, but this one was fifty years old and still a toddler. She was interested. The Mandalorian sat himself across from them, folded his hands on the table and waited.

"So, this child…" Maz began.

"This is the presence I felt," said Ter'a with conviction.

Maz gazed at the child and told Ter'a that there was something special about him, that he seemed strong in the Force. Ter'a looked at the child and raised a hand to let the him grasp her index finger and closed her eyes in concentration and then opened them again, looking into the child's eyes while he looked back into hers. She saw it there. The Force. Powerful and raw as it would be in someone so young. She felt connected to the child now. There were many thoughts racing through her head all of a sudden. She should help this child channel his Force power. He would need a teacher as he aged, but his species aged so slowly… even Luke Skywalker would die before this child's training could be completed. There were so few Jedi left, let alone one that was as long lived as this little one.

Maz broke her train of thought. "Mando, I think you should allow Ter'a to accompany you on your journey to find the child's home and species." Maz looked at the Mandalorian as she spoke. "I think that she can help you with the child and assist you with your work and journey."

Ter'a sat up now and pulled her hand away from the child, "I can't leave this planet. It's too dangerous. Besides, I'm no bounty hunter…" she trailed off looking between them.

Maz looked at her, pity in her eyes. Only Maz knew about Ter'a's past… how she'd lost everything at such a young age… "The Empire is gone child. There is peace now. As much as there can be in this galaxy." She put her hand on Ter'a's. "You don't have to fear the Emperor, his Inquisitors, or the Sith anymore. You should be able to live _freely_. Perhaps you can seek out Luke Skywalker?"

"No," Ter'a said defiantly pulling her hand away, suddenly decided. "You're right of course… but I won't seek out Skywalker. My time in that world is over and I've heard he found others to rally to his cause. _I_ live in the Grey. But," she paused and looked at the child, then at the Mandalorian. "I will go with the Mandalorian and help him and the child. You're right Maz, I've been in exile too long."

The Mandalorian sat back. He seemed annoyed that she and Maz had made all of these decisions without his input, but he didn't object outright.

Ter'a seemed to catch on to his thoughts. "I will accompany you, Mando, if it doesn't bother you?"

He leaned forward again, crossed his arms on the table, and bowed his head. She knew he was weighing the options: what she could offer him and the child, if they grew tired of traveling together…

"Ok," he said, "I don't mind. But keep in mind that bounty hunting is dangerous, and the kid can be a handful…" then he added softly, "Tries to eat every damn thing he can get his hands on…"

Ter'a laughed softly behind her hand.

Ter'a smiled. "And you keep in mind," her eyes looked knowingly through his mask and into his eyes, "that I'm not a babysitter, but a mentor. _And, _I can handle myself."

On that, Ter'a knew he had no arguments.

After Maz left them alone, the sun was setting and hung low in the sky; the day was coming to a close. Though she knew he was eager to get away from Takodana, Ter'a sensed that the Mandalorian was lacking a good nights' sleep. He seemed ready to speak, but she beat him to it. "I know it's been some time since you've had a quality night's sleep Mando. Perhaps you should take a room here at the castle and sleep a full nights' sleep without that helmet before we set out."

He looked at her and she knew what he was thinking. He was surprised that she seemed to know more about Mandalorians than she was letting on. He wasn't wrong.

But all he said was, "Thanks. You're right, I think I will… I'm too exhausted to go back to the Crest tonight."

She knew though that he could if he'd wanted to, but she also suspected that he needed some time to himself away from the child to decompress. Who knows how long it had been since he'd been able to be alone with the silence and his own thoughts? No doubt, after the days' events, he'd have a great deal to think over.

"I'll meet you at the castle door at first light?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, then added, "I'm well-rested so I'll gather supplies tonight and load them in the ship. That way, we will be ready to leave first thing."

The Mandalorian nodded his understanding, thanked her, and left.

Maz and Ter'a relocated the ship closer to the castle and loaded it with supplies they'd need for their travels while the child slept. Ter'a left the child with Maz before setting off for her home. She'd get him from her study and thank and pay her when she returned later in the night. She traipsed through the woods for the final time thinking idly about the Mandalorian, the child and what the future, and the Force, might bring them all. After an hours' walk she reached the front steps of her stone exile home and went inside. Though she had loathed the home for some time after first coming here, she felt that she would miss it once she'd left. It had served her well after all… She walked around gathering her clothing and books. As a former Jedi padawan, she didn't have many possessions. It took too little time to say an unceremonious goodbye to her home, but once she left, she didn't look back.

Once she reached the ship and dropped off her stuff, Maz came out and walked up the Crest's ramp.

"I was going to meet you in your study so you didn't have to come out." Ter'a said as she followed Maz to the child's bed.

"Don't worry child," said Maz quietly placing the sleeping child in his bed. "I wanted to talk to you before you leave."

Ter'a was surprised but not surprised. Though she wasn't a Jedi, Maz knew the Force. She was almost 1,000 years old after all. She'd been around the block, and Ter'a would always hear what she'd have to say.

"The Mandalorian is not used to long-term traveling companions. Give him his space when he needs it."

Ter'a laughed, "That's what you came to tell me?"

"In part," said the alien with a smile. Then she grew serious. "Those who are after him seek the child for his power. They don't know about you or other Jedi. Or if they do, they are after smaller fish like this child, who is defenseless." She paused looking thoughtfully at the child then at the sky before continuing. "You will travel a dangerous road with Mando, trust each other, trust _in_ each other, and you will be successful. Undoubtedly, there will be times where you will each be powerless to the events unfolding before you, other times you will each need to lean on the other for survival." Ter'a took in Maz's word's like a sponge. Maz knew the Mandalorian better than Ter'a so she accepted her words, all of them, without question.

"Lastly," said Maz, a smile spreading on her lined face. "Try not to stare so much child. You will make him blush." Maz looked up at Ter'a still smiling as she blushed furiously. Maz laughed and opened her arms for a hug. Ter'a didn't know when she'd see Maz again, but she felt this wasn't goodbye, so she gave her a grateful hug and offered her some credits. "Keep them child, you'll likely need them more than I will," Maz remarked as she turned as began to walk back towards the castle.

Ter'a watched her until she disappeared inside and then turned up the ramp and into the cockpit. She checked that the child was still sleeping soundly as she switched on the radar sensor and began the watch Takodana's airspace for intruders. She spent the next three or four hours casting a watchful eye over the skies as a few merchants came in and went out, she meditated a bit, and watched the child some. She also thought about Mando. She liked him. It was a bizarre feeling. Having been training to be a Jedi where romance was strictly forbidden… but now with the Jedi Order gone, she had been unable to maintain a complete grasp on the light side of the Force without a proper master and settled comfortably in the Grey with Maz to guide her with what she knew of the Force and of right and wrong. She knew that if it felt right, she would be able to have a relationship, but… the Mandalorian… he couldn't even take his helmet off. If he did, he couldn't don it again. Not in the purest sense of the Creed he'd aligned to. She knew she wouldn't be the one that caused him to break the Creed of the Watch. _Besides, _she thought, _you hardly know him._ She didn't know what he looked like or more on his personality yet. Granted she'd tried to use the Force to see his face, but then stopped before she'd really tried. She liked his voice. It was sure, steady, and attractive. Even his body language and movements were sure, steady, and attracting. She saw that he was smart, and jarringly observant… In the end, she compromised, that if the Force led them down that path, that she would follow his lead.

After hours of nothing, what she'd expected since the setting of the sun had come to fruition with the reappearance of it in the earliest hours of dawn.

Ter'a sat up and double-checked what she thought she saw with a furrowed brow. When she was confident that she'd in fact seen an Imperial drop ship coming out of hyperspace, she got up pick up the child, who was beginning to stir as it was, and headed to the castle to wake up the Mandalorian. As she mounted to stairs two at a time, she thought to herself that she hated waking him, she had sensed how exhausted he was last night, but this couldn't be helped. She made a mental note to ensure him another full night's sleep at another, safer time. She reached his room and banged loudly on the door. Nothing. She banged again and felt movement inside. After a moment, the comm flicked on and his voice came through: "What is it?" He sounded harassed and sleepy.

"They're coming," she stated. "Let me in."

"Just a second," came his reply after a moment. She waited with the child while he undoubtedly got dressed on the other side of the door. She thought fleetingly of what he normally slept in before forcing the thought to the side… _How inappropriate,_ she scolded herself rolling her eyes. As soon as the lock clicked off she opened the door and burst in. For the first time in a while she felt tired and slightly flush, but she stopped dead when she saw him.

He stood before her, clothed in very little by Mandalorian standards. He was wearing his tunic and trousers that went under his armor, as well as his boots, which were still undone, and his helmet. She thought of Maz's words and realized too late that she had stared too long.

"What?" he asked her, looking down at himself and then back at her.

_Dammit_, she thought. She hadn't intended to make him self-conscious.

She played it off. "Nothing, really. I've just never seen a Mandalorian so underdressed." She laughed at him as she set the child down onto the bed where he sought out the Mandalorians' scent and started to climb into his sheets which were surely still warm from his body heat.

"Well, I was asleep when you started banging on the door," he quipped grumpily and began to finish dressing. She saw him spare her a glance. Whether self-conscious that she was here while he dressed, or something else, she didn't know. For his part, aside from looking harassed at being woken up out of turn, he looked alert. He'd clearly come here, showered and gone straight to sleep. She noted that the room smelled strongly of the earthy soap that Maz supplied to the rooms of the castle.

"Where are they?" he asked, breaking her thoughts.

"They just came out of hyperspace about five minutes ago. I've moved the Crest closer to the castle, so it's just outside the castle now. I also finished preparing the ship and supplies a few hours ago and I've been monitoring the skies from the cockpit for the last three or four hours."

The Mandalorian paused to gaze at her momentarily. She could tell that he was impressed with her though she'd not done anything extraordinary yet, but they were still getting to know each other. She looked back him with her arms hanging limply at her sides. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. I just didn't know you were actually going to finish all the prep stuff during the night."

"I told you I was. You didn't trust me? Or didn't believe me?" She felt a little hurt. Maybe he thought she wasn't up to the task? She had told him she was…

"It's not that… I just… didn't know if you'd be finished, or if you got tired…or" he trailed off with an apologetic shrug.

Ter'a looked at him annoyed. She didn't know what annoyed her so much. "I told you that I can handle myself. Did you not believe me?" She felt and sounded offended.

Now he stopped attempting to fasten his cloak, which now hung unsteadily from his right shoulder and walked over to her coming rather closer than was really necessary. The Mandalorian was considerably taller than she was but she felt unfazed and she glared up at him through his helmet and into his eyes. His voice was a low timbre that she hadn't yet experienced, "I never said that I didn't think you were capable, or that you couldn't handle yourself." She looked up at him and saw that he gazed back watching her weigh each of his words, looking for a lie. He took a step back and she felt the breath escape her lungs. She didn't realize she'd been holding it in. "I just thought it was going to take you longer since you had to look after the kid… I told you he was a handful," he finished. Then he turned away and began to rearm himself with all his many weapons.

"I left the child with Maz while I worked…" she trailed off in a whisper. "I didn't want to have to trouble you this morning…"

Ter'a waited for him to finish rearming himself before sighing and stepping close behind him and taking up his trailing cloak which was still only half-attached at his right shoulder and tried to finish fastening it to the hook on his left. She struggled slightly to see the hook that the cloak attached to. The Mandalorian was at least six feet tall and she was only five foot four. She became acutely aware that in her efforts she was brushing against him rather more than was necessary and stilled slightly. She sensed his amusement at seeing her struggle as he turned his head left and down to look at her and was mildly annoyed at his smugness. Obligingly however, he bent his knees slightly to lower himself so that she could see the hook and finish attaching the cloak. Her hands betrayed her by lingering too long at his shoulder before brushing down his arm and sending a shiver down her spine to her fingertips, as well as her eyes once again, by lingering on where she knew his eyes to be.

Suddenly, they were shaken from their tender moment by the sound of a ship entering the atmosphere nearby. The Mandalorian turned away and grabbed the kid while Ter'a opened the door and they ran out.

Ter'a led the way downstairs as they sprinted towards the ship while looking up at the sky and the approaching drop ship. Once they were up the ramp Ter'a hit the button to close it and then turned to accept the child as Din offered him to her so he could get up to the cockpit and get them off the planet and into hyperspace.

As he ascended the ladder and disappeared, Ter'a wondered vaguely, how did they know he was here with the child? Tracking? Perhaps the Mandalorian's enemies had spies? Soon after she thought about the possibilities, the ship rocked with the impact of cannon fire. They were under attack. She was still in a dazed set of thoughts about a million things as the ship was hit a couple more times.

Suddenly, the Mandalorian hit the comm and called Ter'a to come up to the cockpit and strap herself in. Once she came up and buckled her restraints, she held tight to the child. Moments later, they entered space and found themselves the target of a dozen TIE fighters. She watched the Mandalorian use all of his skills to fight them off while preparing to make the jump to light speed. She saw that he chose Coruscant as their destination all while guiding the automatic weapon systems to fire on the TIE's. Ter'a watched him multitask, determined not to disrupt his concentration and she used the Force to communicate with the child who remained quiet but observant. He seemed to know that this was a serious moment anyway. Ter'a felt two more hits come as the stars became lines of light and they left Takodana's system.


	6. Chapter 6 - Hyperspace

a/n: Sorry I haven't written an author's note yet, I've been trying to get the flow of ideas out of my head and onto paper… From this chapter on out, perspectives will switch between Din and Ter'a with a chunk of space and a dividing line of dashes: -. I'm trying to make their relationship develop slowly, but it's difficult lol. It's so silly that they are both thinking the exact same things, but they aren't in tune with each other enough to realize it yet haha. Also, I'm intending for this story to be fairly long, but I'm just going with the flow at the moment to see how it develops in my head. I hope you're all really enjoying this, it's my first story. Let me know in the reviews!

Also, I took some timeline liberties. First, younglings become padawans at 13, but I made Ter'a become one at 8, otherwise she'd be 40 when we meet her and I wanted her to be younger than Din who, according to the interwebs is between 36 and 39. For my story, he is 36, so I made Ter'a 35. Which means she would have to have been 8 when she got a Master at the Temple.

**Chapter 6 – Hyperspace**

Din carried the kid down the ladder to the hold and set him down so he could wander around for a while. After a moment, Din sat in the mess chair and looked around. He'd never really had a long-term travelling companion before, and the ship showed it. He only had one mess chair, one bed… He looked at the supplies she'd brought aboard. There was so much. Supplies for two… _and a half, _he thought after a moment. It looked like quite a lot, but he knew this was really only a few days' worth. He looked down at the kid, who was trying to climb onto Din's bed, and thought… he hoped that both he and Ter'a had made the right decisions. He'd hate for anything to happen to her on his account, but she was after all, here for the kid… technically. He knew that between Ter'a and himself, the kid would be safe at least.

His mind trailed back to the thought he'd had while climbing the ladder earlier before they'd left Takodana. How had they known he was there? After a moment of weighing the options he decided that they'd either put a tracking device on the ship or someone on Coruscant that knew about the Merenzane job had tipped off Gideon. He got up. He'd start by looking for tracking devices inside and outside the ship.

Just as his search began, Ter'a came down the ladder and turned to face him. He didn't stop to look at her, but he'd have to at some point, because she just stood there watching him. Instead he said without looking at her, "I'm looking for tracking devices."

After their… _moment_ in his room, he didn't want to get too close to her again. Not just yet. He hadn't had a chance to think about how that had made him feel and he wasn't sure he wanted or needed that right now. Additionally, he still was undecided about how he felt about starting any sort of… thing with her or anyone else. For the first time, he was trying decide whether or not his helmet was making his life easier or harder.

Ter'a leaned against the wall and looked at him as he looked around for something. Maz's words were ringing painfully in her mind… "Try not to stare so much child. You will make him blush…"

She rolled her eyes. She couldn't help it. He was so easy to stare at.

"I'm looking for tracking devices."

He didn't seem to want to look at her. She felt bad. Had she done something wrong? Was he angry with her? She tried to think if she'd done anything that might have upset him… After their moment in the room…

_Wait, _she thought. _obviously…_ When was the last time he'd been in that situation? She'd not meant to be so tender with him, she barely knew him! Just like she wasn't meaning to stare at him now. Obviously, she was making him uncomfortable and Maz's words rang true. She nodded silently and began to search too, but on the other side of the room to give him space. For about a half an hour they searched in a silence that was broken only by the child's noises of laughter and curiosity as it explored the ship. Eventually however, they met in the middle when their hands brushed against each other and he stiffened and pulled away. She looked up at him, but he still seemed determined not to look at her. She felt slightly morose but didn't let it get to her. She'd promised herself that she'd follow his lead, and that of the Force. Furthermore, they were still practically strangers. She admitted to herself that all she had was a little crush and it would either die away into a friendship or partnership, or grow into something more. Either way, it was far too early to tell.

When Din's hand brushed hers, he wanted to linger there, but he still needed time to think about this. This was a dangerous path for him to choose. A path that could lead, ultimately, to the removal of his helmet if it got serious enough. He wondered vaguely if he was being too rigid? _But_, he thought, this was all he knew, nearly all he'd ever known. He began to realize that what he was afraid of was what would happen, how he would feel, if he did take his helmet off. It's not like earlier when she'd seen him without his armor. Sure, he felt a bit bare, but it was nothing he couldn't undo. If he took off his helmet though, that would be it, she'd've seen his face and he couldn't make her unsee. He wasn't so sure he'd want her to unsee. Then, when he went to put it back on to face the rest of the galaxy… what then? The Creed stated that a helmet that is removed cannot be put back on… What if it was only between the two of them what he looked like? Sighing, he went to scan the outside of the ship… he didn't know what he should do, but one thing was certain, he was beginning to realize what he was beginning to want… and they were still strangers. How much stronger would he feel when he knew her better?

Ter'a sat in the mess chair and watched the child. It was several hours after they'd determined that there were no tracking devices on board and Din had gone up to the cockpit to check the systems. Ter'a looked around and wondered where she was supposed to sleep? Perhaps the Mandalorian would try to play the gentleman and give her his bed? She wasn't going to let him. She didn't mind sleeping on the floor anyway, it made her feel close to the Force to lie on the ground… _but then that was planetside,_ she reminded herself… _we're in space._

It was nearly a two-day trip to Coruscant from Takodana and they'd only done the first four hours or so. Things were beginning to seem awkward between them. Ter'a scolded herself privately about the moment in his room before considering that he seemed to feel the same as she did. At least in that moment. She started to get annoyed with herself now as she kept thinking about the promises she'd made about seeing where things went. It wasn't as though she felt she were trying to rush anything, but she just wanted the awkwardness to go away.

She decided she needed some sleep to clear her mind. She got up and looked around. Where _was_ she supposed to sleep? She didn't see extra blankets that she could put on the floor, only the blanket on his bed. She couldn't take it… what if he wanted to sleep too? She compromised by going back around the corner to where his carbonite freezer was and laid on the floor. Alright, it wasn't _really _a compromise, but she was on _his_ ship and didn't want to intrude on his space. She curled up as best she could, realizing for the first time how tired she really was and feel asleep almost immediately.

Din watched as the tunnel of light that was hyperspace spun past without really seeing it. He had come to the cockpit to check on things but that had long since passed, and now he was trying to think about those thoughts that he'd had earlier. The problem was that he was so lost on what to do, could come to no certain choice, that his mind kept giving up and checking out and then, suddenly, he'd start, realizing that he'd done no thinking at all.

He took a deep breath and pulled off his helmet. If she was going to come up the ladder, he'd hear her and slip the helmet back on before she'd seen. He set it on the console and rubbed his face. His brown eyes gazed at his helmet and he pursed his lips. This was the first time that he'd ever had these crazy thoughts about a woman. Even on Sorgan, when he met the widow Omera, he wanted to stay, but only for the kid… Cara had suggested that he stay and be with Omera, but he couldn't. Sure, she was more than he expected for a farmer, but he hadn't felt like _this_ about her.

_This is crazy, _he said to himself… he'd known Omera longer than he's known Ter'a…

Frustrated, he propped his elbows up on the edge of the console and dropped his chin into his hands, staring out at the stars…

His elbow slipped off the console and he fell forward jerking awake. With a start he realized that he'd fallen asleep at the wheel that when his elbow slipped, his helmet slid off the console and onto the floor making an obnoxious racket.

Gods… hopefully she hadn't come up and seen him sleeping without his helmet and looked at his face? _No, _he realized with a smile. He didn't know her well, but he knew that even if she had come up the ladder, once she saw the back of his head she would have gone back down and left him be. He let himself think about how she somehow knew a great deal about the Mandalorians and the Creed. Most people didn't know, didn't care, who knows… but she did. He leaned back in the pilot's seat… He really should be less cold to her at least… he felt that maybe he was being too rude. She was very warm and understanding to him and he'd not returned the favor. He wasn't an especially warm person, but he knew how to be cordial and tender when the moment called for it. As a bounty hunter though, he often had to be the opposite. He remembered dusting off those softer behaviors on Sorgan for Omera… more out of courtesy than anything, but, as he recalled, it had been a long time since he'd been satisfied in a primal sort of way. He thought of Ter'a though and knew she wasn't the type of woman who'd just indulge his needs and be done. Not that that was what he wanted or anything… and not that she seemed either like an overly lovey sort of woman… In fact, when he considered her, he thought she seemed much like him… aloof, but aware; considerate, but not overly so. He knew that she'd have those primal sort of urges too, they were both human after all… but she struck him as a person who controlled them for the most part. Not that he didn't… in fact, he spent much of his life controlling them. There had been no time or energy to devote to such frivolous things.

He picked up his helmet from the floor and set it back on the console. How long had he been sleeping? He checked the time and it'd been nearly six hours… Din had thought that he'd gotten plenty of sleep on Takodana, but apparently not. Perhaps he'd exhausted himself thinking about his predicament? Now, he was beginning to wonder where Ter'a and the kid were…

Standing, he yawned and replaced his helmet and put his top foot on the ladder and began to descend. Once he got to the bottom, he realized that the cargo area was empty… surely if she decided to sleep, she'd have used his bed? He thought for a moment about what she'd look like asleep on his bed and he smiled to himself. He shook the thought away and stared around looking but knew neither of them were there. He headed to the back room and looked left towards the head. He shook his head, why would she be by the head unless she was using it, and in that case the door would be closed… he looked right and what he saw stunned him. She was curled up on the floor at the base of his carbon freezer fast asleep with the kid laying across her feet.

As Din stared, he realized that she'd not wanted to intrude upon his bed in case he decided that he wanted to sleep. A pang of guilt struck him as he saw her sleeping on the cold, hard, permasteel floor with no blanket. She was here, sleeping on the floor because she didn't feel welcome. At least not completely… Din needed to find a way to help Ter'a feel more comfortable on the Crest or life would on the ship would quickly become unbearable for her. He considered for a moment, picking her up and carrying her to the bed, but he didn't want to wake her if she wasn't ready, and what would she say if she awoke in his arms? Instead, he walked back to his bed and pulled off the blanket before returning to where she slept and crouching low over her to carefully cover her and the kid with the blanket. As he pulled it up over her shoulders, she let out a contented sigh in her sleep and he couldn't stop himself from brushing a tendril of hair from her face. He looked at her for only a moment more before standing and returning to the cockpit. He didn't see her open her eyes for a brief moment and smile.

As Din returned to the cockpit, he began to make a mental list of items they'd need to pick up once they arrived on Coruscant. They'd need a couple more blankets, and a sleeping pad or a small cot. They'd also need a chair for the mess so that they could both sit at his small table. Another good idea was probably to pick up a couple more sets of eating utensils, cups, and plates as Din only kept one for himself and the kid and Ter'a would need their own. He sat back in his chair again and thought about other things they'd need… he had plenty of weapons, they'd need a new store of supplies of course, but that was all regular stuff. He thought for a moment… perhaps it might be practical to find a couple of toys or games for the kid? He didn't have anything that he could play with… not really. Not unless he counted the end-cap of one of his controls, or sometimes, the actual controls themselves… he rolled his eyes and smiled. The kid really could be a handful sometimes. Din remembered what IG-11 had said to him what seemed like a lifetime ago: "Species age differently…" and he realized with a jolt that he and Ter'a would be long dead of old age before the kid ever even reached maturity at the pace he was aging. He wasn't sure how he felt about that… then he had the comforting thought that at least the kid would reach maturity because of his efforts, and soon enough Ter'a would begin to do her part to ensure his survival as well.

Din checked the console, and their progress to Coruscant…

Ter'a's eyes fluttered open. She felt a little stiff, but surprisingly warm. She remembered as she looked down that she'd woken very briefly and seen the Mandalorian walking away after covering her with his blanket. She'd been too tired at the time to really acknowledge the gesture, but now that she was awake and her brain working properly again, she blushed at it. The gesture had been so small, but it meant a great deal to her. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself and smiled.

She began to think. They were going to Coruscant. She hadn't been there since… since her master told her that he'd felt it was no longer safe and he'd taken her away from the Jedi Temple to Takodana, to Maz, for protection, until the danger had either passed or came to be. She thought sadly, that as she'd said goodbye to her master, the master she'd only known for a few months, that it would be the last time she'd see him. She thought at the time that the Jedi Order had been infallible and that they'd conquer the danger of the Sith and move on, stronger than before… but she had been wrong. The Clone Wars ended, her master had been destroyed along with thousands, perhaps millions of other Jedi across the galaxy… And so she remained on Takodana for the past 27 years. Maz had cared for her as her own and taught her what she knew of the Force, though it wasn't nearly as much as the Jedi would have taught her. She didn't resent Maz for it though. In fact, the old alien had essentially been her mother all these years. Now in her mid-thirties, Ter'a was grateful for all Maz had taught her. About life, about the Force, about love, about people. She felt a pang.

She thought again about the Mandalorian. She wondered if he ever felt the urges she was feeling now. She wasn't even sure how to handle how she felt? Did he? He was raised in nearly as forbidding of an environment as she with the Watch… but the Mandalorians generally weren't nearly as rigid on matters of love, relationships, and sex as the Jedi. For the Children of the Watch it all came down to the helmet. The ultimate barrier between them and the wider galaxy. She felt so confused… Maz had taught her these things where the Jedi did not. She had told her once, long ago when she was about thirteen and beginning to develop and mature… "Now child, you are beginning to grow into a woman's body. Men will begin to stare," she'd said. "You must guard yourself, mind, body, _and _heart. Most of these men will not have good intentions. The key… is to find the one that does. Until that time, do not give yourself to any man. You will regret it for a lifetime…" Ter'a had gone on from there are ask questions of a logical, practical nature, and Maz obliged her. Telling her all she knew on matters of human physicality and how the mechanics all worked. Since then, Ter'a had been on guard. She saw how right Maz had been… Men stared… and stared. And she'd remained defiant. Ter'a was determined not to be taken unceremoniously by anyone. She'd even had to fight her way out of couple situations in Maz's cantina. Maz hated it when people fought there, but she'd always been there to make sure that Ter'a was unharmed before kicking out the offender and bidding them never to return on penalty of death. The consequence… or blessing… of it all, was that at thirty-five, Ter'a was still completely inexperienced. She doubted highly that the Mandalorian was too.

_Not that it matters!_ She scolded herself… _You promised that you'd do nothing…_

The problem was that, for the first time, she'd felt a soul that had good intentions, despite the fact that he'd been a little cold to her… more out of defense and being unpracticed at genial conversation, she knew.

She got up. The child was still sleeping soundly at her feet. She wrapped the blanket tightly around him and carried him to the Mandalorian's bed and laid him there. Where he lay, quite content, on his pillow. She watched the child for a moment to make sure he was going to stay asleep before heading to the cockpit.

Din heard her coming up the ladder from the moment she placed her foot on the bottom rung. He tensed for a moment before remembering his promise to himself to try and be more friendly and amicable to her. Once she reached the top and straightened up, she came up right behind his chair and placed her hands on the back of it and gazed out the viewport at the whirling of hyperspace around them. He watched her reflection in the viewport glass before turning his head and saying, "Did you sleep alright? I'm not sure why you didn't sleep in the bed." He regretted the last part as soon as it came out of his mouth, it had come out rather harsher sounding than he'd intended, and he didn't want to give her the impression that he thought she was stupid.

"I wasn't sure if you were planning to sleep as well, and I didn't want to take your bed."

_She didn't sound upset…_

"Besides, I felt bad for waking you early on Takodana."

"I got plenty of sleep…", he paused. "I wanted to thank you for that by the way. And all your preparations for the ship…"

"Of course. I figured that it had been quite some time since you've had any meaningful time to yourself."

He let out an ironic laugh. "Yeah, _quite _a while. The kid needs damn near constant attention when he's not asleep, otherwise he gets into _everything_ or tried to eat it_._"

He saw her reflection look down at him and smile widely. He felt a jolt as she put her right hand on his shoulder at the base of his neck and squeeze lightly before releasing him and sitting in the copilot's seat. He turned his chair to face her and she looked serenely back at him. She looked much more well rested then when he'd seen her earlier and he felt better. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Hm…a little, actually."

Din turned around to do a quick check on the systems before spinning back around and standing. He gestured her to follow him to the galley and they made their way down the ladder. "Have a seat, I'll bring you something."

"Oh, you don't have to do that…"

"It's alright, I'm familiar with where everything is."

So she sat in the mess chair as he pulled out a Corellian apple apiece, some taun taun jerky, and some spice beans, out of some packaging in the cooler. She stood up and came behind him. He turned and she was very close to him in the cramped mess. She held up her hands for the food and said, "I'll lay this out while you pour us drinks…" Her hands brushed against his as she took the food out of his hands and took a step to the table and began to set out his place. He turned and grabbed his plate and the empty packaging of the jerky and handed them to her. "Sorry, I only have one plate," he shrugged. She laughed and took the plate and packaging as he handed them to her.

"It's no problem at all."

He smiled and pulled out two cups… _Thanks Gods there are two of these at least… _

When he turned back to her after pouring the drinks, he saw that she'd pulled two crates into the back corner near his bed, one to sit on and another, a little taller, to eat on. She'd arranged them so that she'd face away from him while they ate so that he could take off his helmet and they could still eat together. She looked up at him. He looked around her to the table and noticed that she had given him the plate and had arranged the food for herself on the empty jerky packaging on the taller crate. He pursed his lips and felt guilty again… he definitely had to get her a chair and a plate… She smiled up at him as she took a glass of milk from his hand and turned away to sit down. He watched her sit and waited for moment to see if she was going to turn around before taking his helmet off. But she picked up some jerky and began to eat. So, he took off his helmet and set it with a soft clunk on the table and sat down. She had greatly endeared and herself to him and gained his trust in the last few minutes… he picked up the apple, following her lead and began to eat.

They sat quietly chewing on their food and drinking their bantha milk. Din kept glancing at her back. He _felt_ nervous that she'd turn around suddenly, but he also _knew_ that she wouldn't do anything without warning him. Din took a sip of his milk and made a small face. He didn't particularly like bantha milk, but it was cheap and kept for a long time. After a while, she looked up at the wall and said, "You know, I'm surprised you haven't asked me about the Force yet." He looked up surprised. Looking at the back of her head he said, "I figured that you'd tell me when the time came…" He sounded strange without his helmet… She let a breath of a laugh though and said, "That's exactly what I was beginning to feel you were thinking." She cocked her head to the side and said, "Are you nearly finished? I'd like to tell you about it face to face…"

"Give me a moment…" he was just finishing up anyway and slid his helmet back on while chewing his last bit of spice bean. "…alright."

She turned slightly to make sure in her peripherals that his helmet in her was back in place before turning to face him fully and she walked over and sat on the bed. They faced each other now, about six feet apart. Suddenly, her posture changed, and she looked, he thought, quite wistful. He narrowed his eyes curiously, wondering what was coming. When she finally looked up at him, she looked very sad. But before she had the chance to open her mouth, a small cooing from behind her made them both look up. The kid had finally woken up and came waddling around her on the bed. She smiled sadly at him and picked him up. Din got up and grabbed some spice beans for him to gnaw on and handed them to him. Ter'a set him on her lap while he ate and looked back at Din.

"It starts, I suppose, with a little history… Do you know anything about the Jedi? Or the Sith?"

"Very little. When I was a child they told me that they were some kind of religious zealots that channeled the Force and bent it to their will."

She smiled at him. He looked back at her as she launched into a brief history of the Jedi and the Sith and their different uses, abilities, and applications of the Force, then she told him her history regarding the Jedi/Sith struggle, and how she ended up on Takodana for nearly the past three decades, and how Maz had, in essence, raised her. She was only a year younger than himself. After she finished, she sighed and said, "Well, I suppose that's it….Do you have any questions?"

"A few… how did you kill the stormtroopers in the forest?"

"With the Force… I strangled them."

He looked at her, head cocked to the side. "How?"

She looked uneasy. "It's hard to explain…I can you show you… but I won't hurt you."

"Okay."

She held up a hand and suddenly he felt his throat constrict slightly. He reached a hand up to his neck but suddenly, the pressure was gone, and she'd lowered her hand, looking away from him. He was shocked to see how easily she could kill someone using only her mind.

"That's how… only with enough force to crush their windpipes. It is… regretful to Jedi to have to kill. They kill as a last resort. But I am not a Jedi. I am a Grey Jedi. This means that I use both the light and dark sides of the force in balance. It can be difficult, and it takes a great deal of willpower." After a moment she said, "What are your other questions?"

"I noticed that you don't carry a blaster. Is the Force your only weapon?"

"No." She stood, setting the child down in his lap. "I also carry a lightsaber."

He'd heard of these but didn't know that they really existed… he'd heard the legend of the Mandalorians' Dark Saber… He wondered why she stood but his question was soon answered. She threw her right hand out to her side and the metal cylinder he'd seen when they first met flew off her belt and into her open hand. Her fingers closed around it, and without warning she ignited it and it filled the hold with a glowing blue light. Din leaned back, amazed. With the plasma blade in her hand and the blue light of it reflecting off her irises, she looked powerful and unstoppable… otherworldly. She looked amazing.

She stood relaxed but holding it up so he could see it. _As though he could miss it_… The blue glow was strong, and the saber gave of a humming sound that betrayed the power it contained. Then, just as suddenly as she turned it on, she switched it off again and hung it back on her belt.

"A Jedi's… or Sith's… lightsaber is their life. Lightsabers are created using the Force through meditation and concentration and can take many days", she explained. "In essence, it takes a part of yourself to make it and so it is connected to you when you use it, as though it were a connection of your body."

Din was mesmerized by its light and power, all the more with her standing at the end of it… He came back to himself. He still had one more question.

"So, if the Jedi and the Sith are gone… for the most part," he gestured at Ter'a and the kid, "then is that why Gideon wants him? To experiment on Force-sensitives?

"I can't answer that," she sighed. She looked at the kid before turning back to him, "All I know, is that it's wrong to hurt or use younglings in the name of science and research. They don't understand why they'd be inflicting pain and suffering on them… it's just not right."

Din got up so suddenly that it surprised her. He felt a sudden urge to be closer to her. He walked slowly around the table to where she sat and sat down on her left side, close, on the small bed so that their shoulders touched. She looked up at him with the same wistful look in her eyes, and suddenly he wasn't sure if it was her tale about the Jedi and the future that had been ripped away from her, or something else that caused the look… she looked away from his visor to his chest and her eyes lost focus and her shoulders slumped. He watched while she pushed herself back on the bed to lean against the hull and pulled her legs up on the bed, hugging her legs to her chest.

"I haven't thought so much about my past in… quite a long time," her voice broke slightly as she put her cheek on her knees facing him and closed her eyes. "I'd forgotten how… how sad… it still makes me." A single tear fell from her closed eyes and ran down the side of her face and she buried her face in her arms.

Din watched her, dismayed. He felt, for the first time, an immense _need_ to find a way to comfort someone. He'd never seen a woman so strong and powerful look so vulnerable. It also gave him more reason to hate Gideon and the Empire's remnants even more. The pain that they'd inflicted on her and the other Jedi at the end of the Clone Wars and after, seeing it on her face… his anger flared, and he wanted to kill Gideon even more now.

He put his gloved hand on her back and heard her sniff before turning her head and resting the right side of her face on her hands, so her head faced him. She looked up at him with wet eyes and said softly, "I stayed on Takodana far too long. I was afraid to leave, afraid to see what I'd find out here. Now, we're going to Coruscant. I haven't been there since my master took me from the Jedi Temple. To hide. You… this chance… to help the child… it's all given my life new meaning. I'm very grateful." She smiled sadly but resolutely. Din moved his hand from her back and brushed some hair out of her face just as he'd done while she was asleep. She closed her eyes and seemed to lean into his touch as his hand came to rest for a moment on her cheek.

Seeing her look so content at his touch… Din craved more. Nothing physical… no, more like…he craved tenderness. Din turned and shifted the pillow into the corner and pushed himself back and maneuvered into it before leaning forward to guide Ter'a to lay back on his chest. She moved to him willingly when she realized what he was trying to do. Once they situated themselves, he crossed his ankles and they sighed contentedly together. This felt amazing. It was as though he felt truly comfortable for the first time. He lay with his back against the wall, resting his head against it and his legs stretched out in front of him. Ter'a was lying against him with her back against his chest and the top of her head under his chin so that, if he wanted to, he could set his chin on her crown. Her behind was next to his on the bed and to his right while her left leg rested comfortably on top of his right. Her left arm lay across his body and her left hand rested on its side on his left thigh while her right hand covered his own with which he had laid loosely across her abdomen to hold her there.

They sat like this for what seemed like eternity. But as he recalled later, the most pleasant eternity that he'd ever felt. They didn't talk. They just listened. Listened to each other's breathing, to sounds of the ship... Eventually, the kid finished his spice beans and crawled up to lay near their right hands and fell asleep again. Eventually, Din heard Ter'a's soft breathing and realized she'd fallen asleep too. He let the weight of his comfort carry him off to sleep as well.


	7. Chapter 7 - Arrival

**Chapter 7 – Arrival**

Ter'a's eyes fluttered. She didn't want to wake up, she'd been having the most wonderful dream… and she was so comfortable. She'd been dreaming that she and the Mandalorian had fallen asleep in each other's arms. She remembered it so strongly that it could have been real…

She shifted slightly and her eyes opened. It had been real. She listened and she could hear the slow rhythmic breathing of the man underneath her. She could feel the gentle rise and fall of his chest against her back. She could smell the earthy soap from Maz's shower on him. Moving her head slightly she saw that his hand was resting limply against her abdomen, fingers loosely intertwined with hers. The kid sleeping just as peacefully next to them. She tilted her head slightly to look up and saw the Mandalorian's helmeted head tilted back in the crook of the wall, oblivious to the world.

She faced forward again, closed her eyes and thought. Yes, they'd been talking about the Force. She'd explained it all and then felt overwhelming sadness. And then he'd comforted her. He put his hand on her back it had felt like his peace was flowing into her, it felt nice. Then when she'd cried… _God's, _she thought. Why did she have to cry in front of him…? He'd brushed her hair out of her face, and she knew he was looking deep into her eyes. But when he'd sat back and pulled her into his lap, she felt more than comforted; she felt wanted. And it was a feeling she'd never really known. Sure, Maz wanted her around, but that was _motherly _want. The men that stared had wanted her too, but that was only for her body. This… this felt like a different want. It felt like he'd wanted to be near to her, so near that he'd laid her across him and held her there so that she wouldn't float away. It almost seemed to her that he'd been just as lonely as she'd been all these years and never found anyone who fit him perfectly.

She felt out with the Force. She was so comfortable. She felt her body against his from her toes to the top of her head and it felt like he fit around her like a glove. She let out a sigh. This felt amazing. Opening her eyes again, she realized she was so comfortable that she could fall asleep again despite having caught up on the sleep she'd missed the night before during her nap on the floor. She closed her eyes and decided to live in the moment and enjoy the feeling. She wasn't sure when she'd feel it again. She fell asleep within minutes.

Din woke suddenly and his eyes snapped open. After a moment, he remembered where he was, and he looked down. She was still there, lying against him, warm and soft, like the galaxy's best blanket. He smiled. He noticed that their fingers had intertwined in their sleep. He'd never held hands with anyone before, it felt nice. He wished he wasn't wearing his gloves. He stilled for a moment to see if she was still asleep and surely enough, he heard her slow breathing and saw her chest rise and fall along with it. He thought about how they'd gotten here. She'd been crying, thinking about her past. He'd felt so bad for her. He hated seeing her in pain like that. Moments before she'd shown how powerful she was when she showed him her lightsaber and then she was crying…. He decided that he didn't want to see her cry again. He wondered though, if she'd be sad when they arrived at Coruscant. She told him that that had been the last planet she'd been to before Takodana. It was where she lived, at the Jedi Temple with her master and the other padawans. Suddenly, a beeping started above them in the cockpit. They were nearly to Coruscant and he'd need to exit hyperspace in a few minutes' time. Sadly, this meant he'd need to get up and separate himself from Ter'a… he didn't want to, but he also didn't want to die by shooting right through the planet either. He hooked his left leg on the edge of the bed so he could pull himself out from under her. Then slowly he began to scoot to the left while he cradled her neck with his right hand and laid her gently down onto his pillow and stood up.

He was a little surprised that she didn't wake up. He pegged her as a light sleeper like him, but perhaps she, like him, was so comfortable that she didn't want to get up. He remembered his earlier thought about what she would look like asleep on his bed and he smiled to himself as she looked even more beautiful there than he thought she would. He gave her cheek a slight caress before he checked that the kid was still asleep too and turned to go up to the cockpit. Just as he set his foot on the ladder however, she said, "I wish you didn't have to go…"

Din looked over at her and instantly regretted getting up. She propped herself up on her elbow to look sleepily at him and she looked so beautiful, he wanted to go back to her and lay back down next to her and let her cuddle against him. "The hyperspace timer is going off… I need to be ready to take us out of hyperspace." He smiled, "Unless, you want to say to hell with it? I'd be more than happy to go back over there…"

She laughed waved him upstairs shaking her head.

Another thing he decided as he climbed the stairs… her laugh was his favorite sound.

As he sat in the pilot's seat, he checked the systems and began to prep them for exiting hyperspace and entering Coruscant's atmosphere. While he was working, he heard a sound and looked behind him as the kid came up the ladder on Ter'a's shoulders. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked as she strapped herself into the copilot's chair and the kid climbed into her arms.

"I don't think so… just taking us out of hyperspace in three… two… one…" The tunnel of light slowed, the stars became dots again, and the bulk that was Coruscant began to fill the viewport as they approached. "Are you alright coming back here?" he asked her. "I know that this is probably hard…?"

No answer. He looked behind him. She was indeed staring out at the planet in the same way that he'd probably stare if one of his parents walked into the room right now. "No," came a small voice. "No, I-I need to do this… I n-need closure… I-I think." She didn't sound so sure.

He stopped and turned around. "I'm here with you. Whatever you need."

She looked away from the window at this to stare at him instead, nerves and concern etched on her delicate features. She seemed like she was in another place, but he knew she saw him as she said, "Thank you Mando."

He turned back around and decided to find somewhere near the shopping district to land. That way they'd be close to everything they'd need before setting out again. And based on the look on Ter'a's face, he didn't want to drag this out longer than she was prepared to. They got permission to dock on landing pad ninety-four and once they'd landed and Din had shut off the engines, Ter'a unfastened her restraint, stood, and went down the ladder with the kid. Din followed. They put the kid in the locker compartment where Din usually hid him when he left the ship. He'd be safe in there until their return and he left him with some food and Din's blanket.

Ter'a didn't stop at the ladder. She seemed determined to rip off the bandage as quickly as possible. She was already lowering the ramp when he got downstairs. He touched her arm and she jumped. "Are you okay?" he asked her, concerned. She definitely looked shaken. Resolved, but still shaken. He also noticed that she was shaking slightly.

She looked up at him. He saw in the deep green pools that were her eyes the words she could not speak. She needed him there with her just like she needed the oxygen she was breathing. She wasn't going to be able to do this alone. He didn't want her to have to. He grabbed her right bicep and pulled her gently into him and wrapped his arms around her securely. She buried her face in the crook of his shoulder and tightly coiled her arms around his back and said a very muffled, "Thank you, Mando."

When he let go and she pulled away, she looked much calmer. She stopped shaking, at least. She said, "I didn't realize that even stepping out into the air of Coruscant was going to make me feel like this." She looked at him. "Before we leave, I'd like to try and go to the Jedi Temple… what's left of it. Will you go with me?"

"Of course."

They descended the ramp together.

Ter'a walked down the ramp into Coruscant's breezy afternoon air with the Mandalorian walking silently down with her, shoulder to shoulder. She took a deep steadying breath. She couldn't have been happier to have the Mandalorian with her. Doing this on her own would have been atrocious. She had always planned on coming back here to get the closure she'd always wanted, but not having to do it alone made it ten thousand times easier.

She looked around. Everything seemed completely unchanged. The air even smelled the same. She looked in the direction she knew held the hulking outline of the Jedi Temple…or what it was more recently… the Emperor's Imperial palace. She frowned. It would always be the Jedi Temple to her, no matter what _they'd_ used it for…

"Well…" she trailed off looking around, "what do you want to do first?"

Like her, he was looking around. "Hm. I think I'd like to get supplies and go shopping… In case we need to make a quick departure."

She looked at him, eyebrow arched. "Are you planning something that may require a quick departure?"

"Not particularly, but I still want to find out how Gideon knew I was on Takodana, and how he had troops there within a couple hours of my own arrival…." He looked at her. "That may lead to something that requires us to get out of here quickly."

She nodded grimly. That was certainly true. They had to shake their spy if they were to ever get any private time to help the kid…

"I'll stock the ship with the normal supplies," he said taking a few steps toward the turbolifts before stopping and turning to her as she followed. "Is there anything specific that you want?"

Ter'a brushed past him into the turbolift and turned to face him, "Not unless you can find some Fringi spice cake."

He followed her into the lift and looked down at her, "Is that all?" he smiled sarcastically. "You know that stuff's hard to find…"

"Is it?" she laughed.

He shook his head as the lift shuddered to life and began to take them down from the landing platform.

"Ok, so we'll restock the ship with more supplies that should last a while longer than what we already have… then we can go to the Temple." He glanced carefully at her here and she knew that he was trying to tread lightly. After he'd seen her get nostalgic on the ship, he didn't want to see her upset again. She nodded and looked away. He raised his hand and squeezed her wrist slightly before releasing it. "After we've finished there, I want to track down the guy from the Merenzane job and see what he knows…"

"Do you think he was the one who tipped off the Moff?"

"Hmmm…. I don't think so…" he said slowly. "But we know that there were no tracking devices on the Crest, so it had to be him or one of his guys…"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"Yep."

They stepped off the turbolift into a busy merchant street. They turned left and headed for the vendors and traders that sold bulk supplies for ships but before they reached the end of the block, Ter'a stopped in front of a vendors' console.

"We want to get bulk supplies, right?" he questioned her.

"Yes…" she started. she looked around at the vendor's wares. "You go ahead, I want to look for something. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

The Mandalorian looked at her with his head cocked. He was confused, but he nodded and walked down to the corner and out of sight.

Once he'd gone, she looked back at the console and began to sift through the vendor's items. She found what she was looking for… a thick black sleep mask. She selected the item, paid the Neimoidian vendor eight credits, and stuffed the mask in the bag she'd brought with her and slung it across her back before heading around the corner to the shipping vendors.

Din wondered vaguely what on Mandalore she wanted to buy from the Neimoidian vendor, but perhaps it was something personal, and so he though no more of it. He needed to be ready to haggle some with these shipping vendors. He looked around before finding a Twi'lek vendor who wasn't busy and went over to him.

"Heeey a Mandalorian! We don't see many of your people on Coruscant these days! Welcome to Mekkie's Supplies, what can I get for ya today?"

"I need to resupply, for about a month's worth of food, drinks, and toiletries for two people…"

"Of course. Any dietary needs? What are the species?"

"Nothing special, just for two humans and…" he paused here. He didn't know the name of the kid's species, and even if he did, he wasn't sure that it wasn't as rare as a Mandalorian was nowadays, so he finished, "a baby."

The Twi'lek looked surprised, "You have a child?" I didn't know Mandalorian's had families?"

"It's her kid… an old friend. I took them in for a while, her village was raided by pirates."

The lie had him convinced. "Ah, I see. Yeah, I've heard that Mandalorians have a soft spot for doing justice for younglings… or at least… what they see as the right thing…"

After Mekkie had him all set with supplies, Din looked to the right and saw Ter'a coming around the corner and spotted him. He turned back quickly to Mekkie. "I also need a sleeping mat, blanket, pillow. The softest you can get… And a mess chair."

Mekkie looked at him and nodded happily, "Hey, sure, whatever ya need. I'll deliver them to your ship. What's the landing pad?"

"Just around the corner to the right… number ninety-four. Oh, and if you can get your hands on a Fringi spice cake, I'll throw in a little extra…"

"Got it. It'll all be waiting outside the ship in the next…" he looked at his timepiece, "two hours."

Din thanked Mekkie just as Ter'a came up behind him, "Nearly done?"

"Just finished. Everything will be at the ship in about two hours… are you ready to go the Temple?"

"Yes," she said nodding.

"Let's go. Lead the way."

Ter'a turned to head right back down the street and they came back out on the main drag and she hailed a cab to take them to the corner street that ran north and south along the street that the Temple was on. Once they'd gotten out, the Mandalorian threw some credits to the driver and he sped off. Ter'a looked up apprehensively at the building that had once been her home. Suddenly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to do this anymore…

The Mandalorian's voice came from behind her, "Are you okay?"

She started slightly and took a step backward and her back bumped against him as he stood behind her. He grabbed her arms to steady her and leaned down to whisper into her ear, "Everything's alright, you're not alone… Let's do this together." She nodded a little too earnestly and began to walk across the street, which was painfully emptier than she remembered. She remembered a bustling street from her youth. The building looked to be in a modest state of disrepair and disuse… apparently, it hasn't been used since the Emperor's departure.

They walked around to the entrance and climbed the steps and entered the atrium, their steps echoing loudly off the walls. She paused and felt out… There was a darkness here that lingered from the previous occupant and it put her ill at ease. She wondered if he felt it too, it seemed so palpable… She led him down corridors and upstairs to where the padawan's apartments had been. She smiled inwardly that she remembered exactly where everything was and that the building was deserted as she felt no one else in the building.

She stopped outside the door that had been her own and put her hand on the door and closed her eyes.

"Was this your room?"

"It was... A long time ago…"

"Do you want to go in? You don't' have to..."

"I do…" She took a deep breath. She wasn't sure what she'd find in here… had the Emperor repurposed every space here? Did he purge the entire building of all Jedi artifacts and belongings?

Out of curiosity more than the notion that it would work she slowly put her palm to the biometric reader to see if the door would open. To her absolute surprise, the door swished open, as if she were eight years old again and returning to the room for the evening. Blinking, she stepped inside, and the light sensors triggered, and the room was flooded with light. The door swished closed again as the Mandalorian stepped in behind her.

Ter'a was frozen. The room seemed to be nearly exactly as she'd left it, albeit dusty and scattered. The Emperor's men had obviously gone through all the rooms looking for anything of value before leaving them to be forgotten to history. It looked like someone else had slept here after her though, but it seemed only to be like a temporary sleeping place.

But there was her bed; her chair; her desk… all of it. She walked slowly to the desk and picked up a crumpled picture long forgotten: a little girl holding a blue lightsaber… her eyes filled with tears before one escaped and fell from her eyes and on to the paper. Her brain flooded with memories of sitting at _this_ desk and coloring pictures and reading books. She set the picture down and turned to the mat on the floor near the bed… the mat she'd finally achieved a successful floating mediation on. She heard a deep breath behind her and looked up. She'd nearly forgotten the Mandalorian was there, she'd been so consumed by the memories and ghosts of her past. She also realized for the first time that she was crying. Actually crying. He started towards her. "This was my room," she said again turning back to look at the picture, "it's almost just like it was the day I left." Her voice broke and she began to sob just as he reached her, turned her, and took her into his arms. She leaned into his chest and cried more than she'd done ever since she could remember. The Mandalorian wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him and they didn't move for several minutes.

After a moment, he pulled back and hooked his finger under her chin and tilted her head to look up at him. He said nothing, but still, she felt an understanding pass between them and felt comforted. She smiled slightly through her slowing tears and said, "I want to do one more thing…"

She stepped back from him, wiping her face hastily, and pulled him towards the door before finishing, "…I want to try and see the Council Chambers."

Din felt so badly for her as she cried in his arms. He saw the moment the first tear fell from her cheeks and he was glad he was there to be with her, but when her voice broke and she began to sob he pulled her into his arms. She would be safe there. She could let it out and fear nothing. If anyone knew what it meant to lose everything at such a young age, he did. He felt for her in a way that few others could understand. And so, he let her cry. He doubted that she'd ever properly mourned what she'd lost. She'd said herself that she thought her respite on Takodana would be temporary, but that she'd been very, horribly, wrong.

Now, as he followed her ever higher to the top of the tallest spire, he felt that this place was reserved for the highest members of the Jedi Order and knew that deep down, this place was what she'd aspired to achieve as a child. He hoped that she wouldn't be disappointed by what they'd find.

They stopped outside the door and she pressed the button to enter and the door opened, and he followed her inside. The room was large and open and had a black desk near the back but nothing else.

"This isn't how it was," she said, a tinge of disappointment in her voice. "This was the Jedi Council Chamber once. There was no desk. That must've been _his._" She said the last word, with a great bitterness. "There were chairs," she pointed in turn to where they would have all been. "The chairs circled the room and they all sat, facing…" she walked to the center of the room, "…here."

He watched her and felt great sympathy and pity.

She sighed and walked to the window and stared out at the expanse of Coruscant's city-scape. "I wanted nothing more as a child, than to be here, on the Council when I was older. If the Order was still here today, I'd like to think that I might have been…" she turned around and looked spitefully at the desk. "But now… I'll never know." She walked towards the door. "It's when I think about what happened here that it becomes hard. I have to work harder than ever at these times, to keep the Dark side at bay… I have to remember that what happened here is because of the temptations of the Dark side… the hubris of the Jedi… that… is when I remember myself and the ghosts of those who came before me." As she made to walk out the door, a broken data chip caught his eye on the ground near the Emperor's desk. He picked it up and she looked closely at it before her eyes widened hopefully. "Maybe…"

"What?"

She began to walk quickly out the door and called behind her, "Master Yoda and Master Yaddle were the same species as the child! Perhaps there is information on their species in the Archives!"

His eyes widened too, and he followed her into the turbolift. "Do you think that the Emperor would have kept that information? Is it possible that he would've wiped out anything that wasn't Sith related, or related to his plans?"

"I don't think so…" she said thoughtfully. "He still should have been smart enough to keep information on the species of the galaxy. Perhaps the right ones could have been of some use to him? Or at least, their homeworlds."

She led him down to the Archives which turned out to be a huge room filled with the remains of books and research consoles where he expected that the Jedi would have pondered the deeper mysteries of the galaxy. In the middle was what remained of a large galaxial map that had degraded to the point that it wouldn't be much help.

She approached a console that appeared to still work and began to search…

Eventually, she found the information that she had been searching for: information on Master Yoda. "Oh no…"

Din leaned over her. "What is it?"

"The information is incomplete… degraded."

"I assume that you mean the name of his species and his home planet…?"

"Yes, much of it's corrupted as well…"

"Maybe we can find someone to help us with that?"

"Do you know anyone?" she asked skeptically.

"Well… no. But I do know someone who might know _of_ someone…" he said lamely. He knew that was hardly much to go on, but they didn't have much of a choice otherwise.

"Alright, I suppose that'll have to do in the meantime. If we come up with a better plan later, we can implement that instead…"

"Sounds good," concluded Din, and they marched out of the Archives and towards the Atrium. When they got there, Ter'a stopped and reached out to touch Din's arm to stop him before he'd even realized that she'd stopped. She came very close to him and put her hands on his arms near his biceps. She was so close to him that she had to crane her neck up completely to look at his visor. When she spoke, it was in a soft whisper. "You'll never know how much it means to me to that you came here with me. I've dreamt about this place, coming here… saying goodbye for years… since I gave up hope. It would have been unbelievably more difficult without you here, _if_ I'd've had the courage to come at all." She reached up on her toes and kissed the cheek of his helmet. Inside it, he blushed furiously, and a tingle buzzed from his spine all the way down his body.

She smiled and lowered herself back down. She made to turn and leave but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She looked up at him, surprised. He opened his mouth to say something, but looking down at her beautiful face, he found that he didn't have words. Instead, he reached up and put his hands on both sides of her head, pulled her close and rested the forehead of his helmet against her forehead. She covered his hands with her own.

Ter'a felt an amazing thrill of energy pass through his body and into hers through their hands. It felt amazing. She felt his appreciation at her trusting him so much. She also knew he was nearly as thankful that they'd found some information that might set them on a good path to finding the child's home. Eventually, they broke their embrace and left the Temple for what Ter'a felt would be the last time, and this time, she was prepared for it.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Spy

a/n – Ao the liquor vendor's name is Japanese for blue, and is pronounced 'ah-oh'. He's also very stupid lol. Also FYI, I make a reference to sex trafficking in this chapter, so if that's something that triggers you, I apologize. Anakin started out as a slave, and I'm know that these sorts of people-trafficking is absolutely _rampant_ in the Star Wars universe.

I know this chapter is a lot from Din's perspective, but I'm hoping the next chapter will be a little more evened out…

**Chapter 8 – The Spy**

Back at the ship, Ter'a watched the Mandalorian check and load the supplies he'd ordered from Mekkie's shop and began to think through their next steps. First, of course, they'd be going to where he'd had picked up the Merenzane to see what they could find out about who had tipped Gideon off that he and the child were travelling to Takodana. If everything went their way, they'd be able to track down the spy and stop them.

She shifted her feet. After all that was over, and assuming they didn't have to make any sort of hasty exit and go find somewhere to hide, they'd head to Tatooine to find the Mandalorian's contact who supposedly knew someone who should be able to help them get some data from the data file they'd gotten from the Archives. Ter'a thought hard on this… she wasn't sure whether or not the data could be recovered enough to get anything worthwhile out of it, but she had to maintain hope. Without garnering _something_ useful from the data file, they'd be back at square one and would have to continue to travel randomly through the galaxy hoping for a coincidental clue to pop up. Ter'a decided though, that regardless of whether or not they got any useful information from the data file, she was going to concentrate her meditations on this matter and channeling the Force to try and find a trail of breadcrumbs they could follow.

"Ter'a."

She started. She'd been so out of it thinking about the data file, she didn't notice the Mandalorian had stopped looking over the supplies and was standing right in front of her trying to get her attention. She also noted vaguely that that was the first time he'd called her by her name.

"Sorry, I was thinking about the data file…"

"It's okay. Help me with the kid please?"

She looked around him, he'd already loaded more than half of them, but the child was waddling around the crates under his feet and the Mandalorian sounded slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, pushing past him. This whole data file thing had her on edge for some reason. The more she thought about it, the less she was sure about some random slicer on Tatooine looking at this sensitive information.

"I'm not annoyed at you," he said gently sensing her own annoyance immediately, "it's the kid. He's walking around under my feet. I'm either gunna step on him or bust my own ass."

She looked around at him and smirked. "Oh. Okay. No problem."

He tilted his head at her. "What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath, "This trip to Tatooine. It has me a little on edge. Those back-alley techies aren't exactly the most trustworthy…"

"I know. I thought about that too. But we don't have much of a choice." He paused before going on, as though he knew she'd probably disapprove of what he was about to say. When he spoke, he spoke slowly, weighing each word, "If we get there… and he doesn't seem like he can keep his mouth shut… we'll… we can take care of him… after he finishes the work…"

He was right to think this wasn't a particularly savory idea to her. She didn't want to kill anyone, really. Even if they'd been trying to kill her… a Jedi's last resort should be to kill someone or something. But… the child's life, as well as their own lives, could be at stake. She looked down and took a deep breath before nodding her agreement.

She picked up the child and let him play with one of her braids while the Mandalorian finished.

Din waited while the Crest's ramp closed so they could walk back to the turbolifts. She said she was feeling on edge about going to Tatooine, but _he _was on edge about finding this spy. Personally, he knew that this would be the difference in their ability to have some quiet time to search rather than having to be constantly on the run. Though, in reality, even if they shook Gideon off here at Coruscant, he'd still be keeping a sharp eye out for them. In fact, he'd likely send out even more spies to track them down.

"You know," she started as they stepped into the lifts at last, "I'd like to shower at some point."

"There's a shower in the head on the Crest. Once we leave Coruscant, it's all yours."

"I saw it…" she didn't sound to enthusiastic.

"What's wrong with my shower?" he said a little too defensively.

"Nothing at all. It's just… it's a ships' shower… so, it's small… cramped. You know."

Din sighed and nodded. She was right, he conceded. He didn't really like to use it himself all that much. He much rather preferred to have room to move around without his elbows bumping the sides.

"We can get a room here in one of the hotels if we're able to after this. I'd like to shower too, actually… sleep in a nice bed…"

She smirked.

"But you _know_ that we might not be able to do that?"

"I know," she nodded.

The lifts came to a halt on the street and they headed for the liquor vendors.

"What's your contact look like?" Ter'a asked as they passed stalls of different vendors of different species pushing different liquors.

"He's a light blue Twi'lek named Ao."

She nodded.

"Let me do the talking."

"No problem. This is bounty hunter work, I'm not much for shaking people down."

Din let out a breath of a laugh.

Several more stalls down they saw him. Din came to a stop in front of the stall and Ao looked up from counting the credits he'd just gotten from a Gamorean who was walking away with a couple bottles.

"Mando! I didn't expect to see you back so soon!" Ao looked excited and probably expected Din to make another large, expensive purchase.

"Hey Ao."

"Who's your friend? She's pretty." Ao looked up and down at Ter'a in what he thought was a knowing, appreciative way before looking back at Din with a laugh, "I should have known you liked small girls. Where did you buy her?"

Inside his helmet, Din made a disgusted face. Ao thought that he had purchased Ter'a from a sex trafficker. He glanced at Ter'a whose face had turned quickly from mild curiosity to stony dislike at a lightning's pace and he laughed to himself. How could Ao possibly think she was a purchased girl? First, she was far too healthy looking, and she didn't have any of the trademark aura of fear about her. Secondly, she looked way too strong and powerful… Ao couldn't read people at all…

"She's my associate Ao, not a purchase." For good measure he looked at her and added, "I've worked with her several times before. Her name is Takara." Not missing a beat, Ter'a nodded tersely in agreement.

"Of course, my apologies Takara," said Ao bowing slightly in her direction. "Now, what can I get for you today, Mando?"

Din glanced left and right slightly to see if anyone was watching, but as he suspected, everyone was far too engrossed in their own business; hopefully Ter'a would get the hint and keep something of a lookout. He saw that she was wise to his thoughts and began to nonchalantly look around. Din leaned close to Ao and said, "How many people work for you?"

Ao looked startled and put on his guard but said, "O-only three… w-what is this Mando?"

"Someone followed me to Takodana and tried to kill me. What do you know about that?"

Ao looked positively frightened now and stammered, "I-I don't know anything about anything, M-Mando, I swear!" as he leaned away with his hands up slightly.

Din grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled him forward aggressively and said in a harsh whisper with his teeth gritted, "Put your hands down and keep your voice down. If you didn't do anything, you don't have anything to worry about. Now, who do you know that would've known about my Merenzane job and where that shipment was headed?"

Ao thought for a moment and then said shakily, "I-it had to be Sio? H-he works for me. He was the o-only one I had working o-on that job!"

Din growled and jerked the Twi'lek closer.

"That's it! I-I swear!" Ao said in a high pitched voice. He was sweating now and Din knew he was telling the truth and released him. Ao staggered back. "Who'd want to kill you anyways?"

Din ignored him and looked behind him. Ter'a looked sideways up at him and back out at the busy street. He turned back to Ao and said, "Where can I find Sio?"

Ao looked for a moment like he didn't want to tell him where to find Sio, but Din placed both of his hands on the counter and leaned forward, tilting his head to the side, and Ao lost his nerve, "In the Projects! P-Project H, a-all the w-way a-at the end o-on the l-left," the alien's voice was shaking almost uncontrollably now, "T-third f-floor, gr-green h-house!"

Din pushed back off the counter and said, "And you're not going to warn him that we're coming, or we'll be back," and strode away with Ter'a behind him as Ao nodded his head vigorously in agreement behind them.

Ter'a hadn't yet seen the Mandalorian get really angry or rough with anyone, and if the street hadn't been full with all sorts of the emotional interactions from dozens and dozens of other beings, Ter'a might have been concerned that he was getting rough with Ao in public, but there was so much going on that one more scuffle hardly seemed to matter.

She'd done her duty and kept an eye out while the Mandalorian questioned him, and Ao got progressively more frightened until he could hardly talk.

She would have been extremely annoyed when he asked where the Mandalorian had bought her, but instead she knew that he was just an idiot. But when Mando had given her a fake name and said he'd worked with her several times before, she marveled at his improvisation skills, and once he started to get rough with Ao, Ter'a was impressed. He didn't even reallyhave to get rough, just tugging his tunic a bit had been terrifying enough for the Twi'lek to tell all he knew, and Ter'a sensed the truth to his words. The Mandalorian had a real intimidation factor that Ter'a knew wasn't just because of the helmet. Mandalorians in general weren't known for being overly amiable to begin with, and her Mandalorian had a real battle-hardened aura about him; even more so it seemed, than the few others of his kind that she'd met.

After finding out where they could find Sio, the Mandalorian had threatened Ao not to tip him off lest they return for him, and simply walked away. Ao had looked with abject horror at Ter'a and nodded his head vigorously, causing his long, blue lekku to flap behind him. He seemed to be on the verge of tears. Ter'a turned away and followed the Mandalorian, interested to see how he would deal with Sio if he proved to be the one who had been spying…

Din was feeling particularly authoritative as he walked away from Ao's vendor stall as beings parted the waters to let him pass with Ter'a close behind. The last thing he saw when he walked away were Ao's lekku flapping fecklessly as he nodded his head in heed of Din's warning.

Suddenly, he was in no mood to be trifled with.

They stopped when they reached the shuttle stop and flagged down a taxi that would take them to Project H. As they got in, Din was praying to the galaxy that Ao wouldn't tip Sio off. Din had always liked Ao until now, and felt bad getting so angry with him, but upon further reflection Din remembered that Ao had thought Ter'a was a sex slave and his pity vanished. As the driver pulled back into traffic, he told them it would be about fifteen minutes to the Projects. Din looked to the left at Ter'a who was looking out of her window. "Have you ever been to the Projects before?"

"No. I know about them though… their reputation."

"Okay, good. So… just be careful…" he trailed off and looked away.

"I could say the same for you. Are you alright?" she waited until he looked back at her before finishing, "I haven't seen you get that angry yet."

"I'm good. Just trying to get the information we needed."

"I think you didn't like it when he suggested that you'd bought me from a trafficker."

Gods she was astute. Din blinked slowly. It was undoubtedly part of her Jedi abilities. No one could generally read him well because of his subdued tone of voice and his face was obscured by his helmet, but _she_ could read him like a book that sat open in the suns. Granted, this particular time, he'd not been exactly subdued with his annoyance at the Twi'lek's comments…

"Weren't you?"

"Well, I would have been if his comments didn't betray his intelligence level…" she said evenly looking back out the window. "If he'd even given me a seconds' longer look he'd've realized that I'm far too healthy looking to have been in a trafficking ring… as well as the fact that I don't look terrified at everyone's slightest movements."

Din grinned and chuckled slightly. She thought the same thing that he did about Ao's less-than-accurate judgement of her, and in hindsight, he felt silly for letting it get him so upset.

The cab slowed and stopped at the head of the street for Project H. Din paid the driver and they piled out onto the street. Once the driver had gone, the pair of them looked down the street and then at each other and back again before starting to walk down the left-hand side. They would need to look out for each other in here. Coruscant's Projects were notoriously rough and were one of those places in the galaxy that so often was the starting point for someone's life story in the trafficking trade. Despite knowing that she was more than capable of handling herself, and probably because of Ao's remarks, Din found himself keeping close to Ter'a, walking slightly behind her so he could see her at all times and often reaching out to touch her to let her know he was there as well, though he knew she could sense him there anyway through the Force.

Eyes and faces of countless species leered out at them as they walked along, trying to keep as close as possible to each other and in the shadows on the side of the street, and trying, perhaps too desperately, to blend in with the community and appear nonchalant. Ter'a was well aware that the value of Mando's beskar alone was enough to cause a fight.

Ter'a could handle herself… hell, she could cut down most of these people single-handedly, but this place was rough, and she couldn't have been more thankful that the Mandalorian was behind her. She initially felt a mild annoyance that he was walking so closely to her, reaching out to touch her arm every so often, but as they walked block after block, deeper into the Project, she was more and more grateful. It was exhausting to be so constantly vigilant, and when she accepted that he was more than willing to share in the vigilance, she would've relaxed, if only slightly, were she able to. Anyway, it's not like anyone would be able to sneak up on them without at least one of them noticing… the Mandalorian was so on edge, his wariness was palpable to her through the Force, and she would sense movements coming in their direction before the perpetrator had even begun his attack.

From the head of the street, the driver had told them that it was ten blocks to the end, but he wouldn't drive them down there and save them the trouble. He told them that drivers stopped going down the Projects streets around the time of the rise of the Emperor. It was as though the dregs of society sensed the lack of "good people" and stopped being afraid, and so they rose up to meet anyone who dared to venture onto their turf.

Finally, the Mandalorian pulled up and hooked his fingers under her arm to stop her too.

"We need to be careful, so we don't spook him."

"Agreed. How do you want to do this?"

"Well," he said slowly, looking around casually, "we've been closely watched since we started down the street because we stand out so much. _If _everyone in whole Project doesn't already know we're here, we should head inside of this housing block," he indicated the housing flats directly in front of them, "and cross over the last two flats to our guys' place."

She nodded in agreement to his plan.

They headed inside of the housing block and made straight for the closest staircase so they could make their way to the third floor, meeting no one along the way.

On the second-floor landing however, Ter'a stopped him.

"Wait. We should cross over one block here before heading up again…"

"Right."

They crossed the landing to the hallway that would lead them to the next block of flats and the final stairway. After they climbed at last to the third floor and stood on the landing, they looked around.

"You didn't ask what Sio looked like…"

"Didn't need to."

"Why not? How're you going to know it's him?"

"Because he's got to be the terrified looking Chiss in that corner."

Ter'a spun around as Din stared the Chiss down. As he stared, the Chiss seemed to try and melt into the corner where he was cowering. A bag sat by his side. He had clearly heard they were there and was attempting to escape. A little too late, it seemed.

"They said you were coming," he stammered. "As soon as you entered the project. I knew you'd come for me."

Ter'a spun to see what on Alderaan the Mandalorian was talking about but she saw the Chiss immediately and looked from Sio to the Mandalorian to see who would make the first move. This Chiss was without a doubt the guilty party that was sending info to Moff Gideon, if he wasn't, he wouldn't be so abjectly terrified.

The Mandalorian stared down at the Chiss and began to advance slowly. Ter'a felt uneasy and put her hand on her lightsaber and spoke slowly to the Mandalorian, "Be careful, Mando… we should be careful…" she looked behind her as she followed the Mandalorian at a distance. "If we make too much noise, we may bring the whole Project down on us… … and that's the _last _thing we need…"

Din stopped. She was absolutely right… Not that he was planning some loud interrogation, but he did need to be careful…

He walked the rest of the way to Sio and beckoned him to stand up with his pistol pointed at Sio's heart. He spoke to the Chiss slowly, "You're going to answer all my questions. If you cooperate, I might let you live." He knew now though, that he couldn't let the Chiss live… Din had absolutely no doubts that if he let the him live, he would run directly to Gideon and tell him what he'd seen and heard… and who he was with. With a jolt, Din realized that by letting Sio live after they were done with him meant endangering Ter'a's life too, and as Gideon didn't yet know about her, Din wasn't going to be the one to bring it his attention… If the Moff found the kid interesting for _his_ abilities, Din could only imagine how fascinating he'd find Ter'a… Suddenly, he felt a pang of fear for her, which made him angry again.

"You're spying for Gideon."

"I-I…"

In the same fashion as he questioned Ao, Din marched forward and grabbed a fistful of Sio's tunic and jerked him aggressively forward. He was quite a bit taller than the Chiss and towering over him had exactly the desired effect. Sio blurted out all he knew, stumbling over his words.

"Yes! Yes, I told him okay! I worked for the Empire as an analyst back in the day... He came to the Projects several weeks ago looking for Imperial sympathizers and former Imperial workers. S-said that he was looking for someone…. A Mandalorian with shiny armor and a kid. A-a little kid. I-I work for Ao and I was there when you ordered th-the Merenzane. You didn't have a k-kid with you, but I figured your armor was nice, may-maybe you just didn't have him w-with you…" he trailed off.

Shaking him, Din hissed "What else?"

"He promised 10,000 credits if I found any information on you! What else could I do? I figured, worst case, it was a dead end! Best case, I get enough creds to g-get me outta here!"

Din huffed and shoved the Chiss to the ground. "Who else in the Projects knows about this?"

"Only a couple 'o other guys came to see him… and they're both dead. K-killed in a fight in Project K a couple days ago…"

"How sure are you about that?" Din crouched over him.

"Very. Gideon met us in an old warehouse in the shipping district… only me and the two other guys showed."

"And how do you know they're dead?"

"I saw it. A bunch of gamblers were there in P.K. like I said! We were betting on Corellian hound fights. During the fourth round, the hounds both killed each other and there was an argument on how to split the creds. I got shot too…!" he pulled up his tunic to reveal a smooth blue body with a scorch mark where the blaster bolt had marked his right side.

Din stood up feeling fairly confident with the Chiss's information. Now he needed a silent method of execution.

He backed away a few paces and pulled his blaster on Sio. "Ter'a?"

Ter'a came up to his side, looking nervously from him to Sio. But she knew what he wanted her to do because she said, "Silently?"

He nodded and she raised her hand and ended the Chiss' life.


	9. Chapter 9 - Back to the Crest

**Chapter 9 – Back to the Crest**

Ter'a wanted to feel bad about killing the Chiss and she felt through the Force that the Mandalorian felt bad for asking her to do it, but she knew it needed to be this way. If they made too much noise, they were almost certain to have the whole of Project H's most unsavory characters upon them. As it was, once they left Sio's house, someone was certain to discover his body quickly and she and the Mandalorian needed to be out of the Project by then.

As the Mandalorian grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the exit she thought about Sio's words and knew that he was telling the truth. His fear was strong, she'd felt it, and he didn't lie. The people on Coruscant who knew about the Mandalorian's transgressions against Gideon were now all dead.

They reached the staircase and the Mandalorian, who still had hold of her arm led her up the stairs, not down, which tore her from her musings.

"Wait," she said, "we need to go down."

"No," he said letting go of her arm now that she had returned to herself. "They all know we're here and soon enough they'll know about the Chiss' body. I want to go to the roof so we have the high ground."

She caught on and together they began to sprint up to the roof… another twelve floors above them.

She was lighter on her feet and had less armor than Din, so Ter'a maintained a distance advantage on him that enabled her to keep a look out with the Force and her other senses, and he was able to watch their flank, but they didn't see anyone until they'd reached the tenth floor. And unfortunately, due to the welcome they received from an overly ambitious Utapaun on the tenth-floor landing, it seemed that the whole Project knew what had happened. Din was stunned for a moment by the suddenness of the blue light filling the hallway and was subsequently shocked to see the Utapaun's head rolling down the stairs past his feet.

They continued to fight their way to the rooftop where they broke through from a skylight unceremoniously and ran in the direction of the street head. Ter'a was fast, he thought. Faster than he was, and she was able to jump the fifteen-foot gaps between the housing blocks with ease and land on her feet on the other side. Din had only to fire his weapon a few times to cover their flank as she seemed to cut down anyone in her way in the blink of an eye.

_I was right,_ Din thought as he used his jet pack to jump the sixth gap, _she's great in a fight…_

Ter'a skidded to a halt at the end of the last housing block and looked down to the street fifteen floors below. She crouched and looked behind her to see the Mandalorian jumping the second to last gap, run the length of the block and jump the final gap. She could hear gunfire and yells in the homes below as the inhabitants ran about in a chaotic frenzy to find the Mandalorian and his companion. She felt confident that no one knew where they were, but she also knew they'd keep looking until they found someone that resembled their quarry. They had to get out of here…

The Mandalorian slid to a halt behind her, his breath coming in gasps through his helmet. "Grab on."

She didn't need telling twice. In the blank of an eye, she switched off her saber, clipped it to her belt and wrapped herself around him. She made sure to situate herself so that she could access her lightsaber quickly to deflect any shots in their direction.

Din wrapped his arms tightly around Ter'a and jumped. Air rushed past them and they fell, yet he felt like they were falling way more slowly than they should have been. He had a tight grip, maybe too tight, on Ter'a, but he refused to let her fall. Then he realized, she was using the Force to slow their fall. He wondered how long she could hold that concentration? He couldn't see her face as she was hugging his body tightly, but he activated the jet pack and it forced them horizontally and away from the Projects instead of their current trajectory downward. When they were over the sidewalk across the street from the Project Din switched off the pack and they fell the last two feet to the permacrete. Once they hit the ground, they continued to run away from the Project in the opposite direction but made a zigzag pattern through Coruscant's city streets for about a half-hour before they dared to stop.

By the time they pulled up, Din was exhausted. Clearly, she maintained her stamina on Takodana by running, as she was out of breath too, but less so. Din was in good shape for sure, but he didn't often run for such long distances at one time. As he bent double to catch his breath, Ter'a spoke,

"I don't think we should head back to the ship tonight…" she panted.

"What?!" He straightened up and his lungs felt painful. "We have to get out of here…" he shook his head.

"What if we are just leading them back to the ship?"

"People already know where it is…"

"Only Mekkie knows," she reasoned. "You didn't tell Ao, and both he and Sio told you the truth that no one else knew about the job."

Din looked at her as she walked in a circle to catch her breath. She had a point. "What about the kid?"

"Hmm…" she continued to circle, thinking. "You left him with food, yes? And water?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I wanna leave him overnight in the Crest's closet…"

"He won't die… I think it's better anyway. Better to make _certain_ we've shaken everyone off tonight than to lead them straight there just so we can check on the child."

"Mekkie knows there's a kid."

"But Mekkie, doesn't know it's not with us…"

"I didn't say he wasn't with us…"

She stopped circled, having let her breath catch up with her. "Still… you know I'm right."

Din's breathing slowed to a normal pace. Of course she was right. He rolled his eyes. He had a feeling she'd be right a lot before this adventure was over…

"Okay, let's catch a cab to a hotel in a different district."

"Sounds good. How about the gambling district?"

"Good idea. We can stay in one of the big resorts."

Din hailed a cab that took them to Coruscant's colorfully lit gambling district. There were so many beings from so many species there to gamble and party that it would be nearly impossible for someone to spot them.

Ter'a had seen the lights from the gambling district plenty of times when she lived here as a child. They radiated against the sky and caused a lot of light pollution, which was saying something as the whole of Coruscant was a city, but she had never actually been here before. It was the perfect hiding place. Firstly, there were so many beings here, millions and millions of them…, that once they got to their room they'd be well hidden until morning. Secondly, the Project residents wouldn't bother to come here looking for them because they had very little with which to gamble in a place like this.

She followed the Mandalorian to the counter of one of the bigger casino resorts and watched him check them in to a small room facing the district where the ship was. She knew that he would try to spot the ship and keep an eye on it throughout the night.

He turned to her, "Can you come and scan your eye for the biometrics?"

She nodded and stepped up to the console and looked into it so that the computer could scan her eye. After it beeped, she stepped back again.

"Do you really think you'll be able to spot the Crest from here? It's a little far… a couple of miles perhaps?" she asked him as they walked to the turbolifts that would take them to their room.

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to with the distance and all the buildings in the way. But I'd like to try to."

"Hm," was all she said as they stepped into the lift and it began to carry them up to their floor.

At last the lift ground to a halt on the 85th floor and they stepped out and turned right. Their room was about a third of the way down the long hallway. The Mandalorian waited while the door console scanned her eye and the lock clicked open. They stepped inside and Ter'a looked around the room as the Mandalorian stepped in behind her and closed and locked the door. It was a modest room with a large window that spanned the height and length of the wall that separated them from Coruscant's exterior. There was one bed, more than large enough for two humans, as the beds in resorts like this one were set up to accommodate many different species of varying sizes. There was also a desk and chair, as well as two recliner seats made for relaxation with a side table in between them. She looked to the right and there were two doors, one was surely a closet with the other leading to the bathroom. The Mandalorian went right for both of these to make certain that they were alone.

Ter'a suddenly felt very tired. It was been a long day with a lot more action and emotion than she'd had in quite a long time. She walked to the window and decreased the level of privacy glaze that gave the window it's frosty looking appearance enough that she could differentiate between buildings and things came into focus. She pulled a recliner around to face outward and watch the sun set. A few moments later, the Mandalorian came up behind her and pulled the other recliner next to hers and for several minutes they did nothing but sit side-by-side and stare out of the glass and watch the sun sink lower and lower, and the sky tint deeper and deeper orange.

As the sun threatened to finally disappear at the horizon, the silence was broken.

"Din."

"I'm sorry?" she asked looking at him, clearly confused.

"My name. It's Din."

When she turned her head to look at him, he still appeared to be gazing out the window.

"Din," she repeated seeing how his name fit her tongue.

He nodded.

Tilting her head to side, she asked, "Why are you telling me now?"

"I trust you."

"Because of the Projects?"

"Partly," he conceded. "But also, the way you trust me shows me that you're trustworthy."

"I'm sorry?" she said again. He was going in a very cerebral direction.

He looked over at her. "Today…" he paused and changed his response, "Yesterday, actually, you told me about your past. It was all very personal, and you just trusted me with it." He looked back out the window. "Today, you took me to the Temple and…" he took a deep breath. "everything that happened in there was…" he spoke more gently, "very… private. And… emotional… for you. It wasn't something that a person usually shares with a virtual stranger."

"We have to trust each other… _build_ trust with each other." She said in a whisper.

"In the Projects," he continued, nodding and turning bodily to look at her again. "You were solid. I hardly had the chance to do anything until it was time to jump. And again… you trusted me. Not just with your past this time, but… with your life. What if I would have dropped you?"

She leaned towards him and smiled, "I knew you wouldn't. You were holding onto me like your own life depended on it."

He let out a breath of laughter and turned to look out of the window again, though it was fully dark now aside from the city lights, which were considerable. He didn't speak.

She looked at him and smiled but didn't speak. So, he trusted her now with his given name. Din. She liked it; it was unique and unassuming, like him. She'd carry it like something precious that she had to protect. She wouldn't tell anyone his name; wouldn't even acknowledge that she knew it outside of their private company. She smiled wider.

Din felt good. It felt nice to tell her his name. After the day's events and all they'd shared together, he owed her something more tangible than just his company. His name seemed like a great place to start. When she repeated it back, he thought it sounded like a song coming from her lips and he smiled inside his helmet. He was _very_ confident that she'd treat his name with the same care as he did about removing his helmet. He knew now, that she'd kill and be killed before revealing him to anyone. And with this thought, a whole new chorus of thoughts struck up a tune in his mind about how taking his helmet off only in front of her would make him feel about his life and the promises he'd made when he swore the Creed, and how it would all make him feel. He wished he could talk to her about it, but it felt so personal… though to be fair to her, she'd essentially shared her whole life with him, and he hadn't shared his yet. But he reasoned that as this was very much about her, it made it difficult to discuss with her.

Instead, he stood up and adjusted the lighting in the room so that it was so dim that it was virtually off. Then he adjusted the privacy frosting of the exterior window so that it was completely clear so as to distinguish individual buildings and ships that were further away and made to see if he could spot the Crest or the landing pad through the darkness, city-lights and shadows, and perpetual motion and busyness of Coruscant's city-scape. Even with the special setting in his helmet that allowed him to scan the horizon for specific objects, the ship in this case, he had difficulty even though it wasn't too far away… perhaps a couple of miles like Ter'a had said. Finally, his helmet GPS found the location coordinates of the ship and he gazed toward where he knew it would be, but it was too dark and too far to see anything of interest…

He gave up and in the interest of safety, Din reset the glaze setting on the window to obscure everything again and went to the washroom. As soon as the door closed, he pulled his helmet off his head and looked into the mirror. His hair was matted flat from sweating earlier from all the action in the Projects and the marathon they'd run afterward, and he felt he had the distinct look of a man lost in thought about an annoyingly ponderous problem… which honestly, he was. He was beginning to accept the fact that he wanted to take Ter'a up in his arms and kiss her. Face to face. Perhaps more? He looked hard at the man in the mirror and a stranger looked back at him. Since when had he been so interested in such things? Sure, he always wanted something like this, but on a very deep, very human level… kind of like a fantasy or a daydream… but he never thought it would actually happen, this, aside from the fact that he hadn't ever really even looked for it. He tilted his head and the man in the mirror did the same. Though, maybe… he was just waiting to see if destiny would put something in his path? He was busy quite often… maybe he'd decided a long time ago that he'd just leave it up to fate to decide on these matters of the heart and he'd be left to decide on whether or not it was worth it if and when the time actually came.

He continued to stare hard into the eyes of the man in the mirror. He was leaning on the counter with his hands gripping the edges. Even if this was true, he still didn't know whether or not he'd be able to reveal his face to her. He hadn't done it for anyone. He acknowledged that was fear he felt. Fear of what would happen if he did, even for Ter'a, and her alone… no one else. He knew now that he trusted her beyond all others, even Kuill and Cara. How would he feel afterwards? Would he be able, in good conscious, to put his helmet back on? He huffed a frustrated breath out and it fogged his reflection in the mirror. This was the same argument he'd had with himself a day ago! …Albeit, slightly more enlightened… Why couldn't he just decide!

Looking away from his reflection, he jammed his helmet back on his head and left the bathroom… he'd have to argue with himself more later… perhaps he'd be even _more _enlightened than he was now…

Ter'a sat and watched him fiddle with the lights and the windows before going off to the washroom. She wanted desperately to shower but figured he'd want a moment to take his helmet off and have a moment to himself, so she was patient.

She'd known he wouldn't be able to see the Crest from their room, but she also knew that he was fiercely desiring to return to it and make sure that the child was safe. She didn't say anything, though perhaps she ought to in order to preserve some of his sanity, but she sensed the child through the Force, and he was as safe as he'd been when they left him. She'd taken special care to continuously, periodically, reach out to him in the Force and check on him… she explained this ability as best she could when she told Din about herself and the Force on the way here, but perhaps he'd forgotten.

The door to the bathroom swished open and he came marching out of it looking somewhat agitated.

"Are you alright?" she questioned him with a furrowed brow.

"Fine."

"The child is fine, you know…. No need to worry, I can sense him through the Force. He's sleeping now."

Din looked up at her from where he'd thrown himself down on the far corner of the bed. "I forgot you could do that… thanks."

Even though he thanked her, she still sensed agitation and only the most mild placation at the information about the child. Something else was bothering him. She got up and walked over to sit next to him. "If you aren't worried about the child, what is it?"

No answer.

"Din?" she dipped her head so that she forced herself into his eyeline. "Talk to me, what's bothering you?"

He looked away and she could tell he was casting about for something to pretend to be worried about.

"The kid…" he lied finally. "This trip to Tatooine. Maybe you were right, maybe it's not such a good idea."

She knew he was lying to her, but she sensed that he wasn't quite ready to talk about whatever it was that bothered him… not yet. She trusted him, so she decided she give him more time. Even though going to Tatooine made her slightly nervous, she decided earlier in the day that they didn't have many options and that they could both handle any situation that might arise there. So she said, "I do feel nervous about it, yes, but together you and I can handle it."

She put her hand on his shoulder and stood. "I think that we need to go, and of course, we'll be on guard. It'll all be fine," she nodded with a smile. She walked toward the washroom and said over her shoulder, "I'm dying for a shower. Take your helmet off while I'm in there, try to relax a little."

She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. What on Coruscant was bothering him? He didn't want to talk to her about it so he'd made something up… what would make him feel like he couldn't share it with her? That he had to lie? She pushed off the door and turned on the shower while she thought. She wasn't angry with him for lying…

As the water turned hot, the way she liked it, the mirror fogged up and she undressed and put her clothes into the ion cleaner. Maybe he was thinking something about her?

She stepped into the shower.

What else could it be…? He hadn't told her anything about his past yet. Maybe that was it? _No_, she thought shaking her head. _That doesn't feel right…_

Despite the thoughts brewing in her mind, her body relaxed from the heat of the water. She thought for a few minutes and weighed the options before deciding that whatever he was thinking about had something to do with her. Something probably along the lines of battling with whatever feelings he was developing for her.

It was obvious that they'd begun to have feelings of some sort for each other when they'd woken up in each others' arms on the Crest. There couldn't possibly be something else that he wouldn't tell her now if he'd shared his name with her…

With these revelations she decided to let it go for the time being. Whatever he was thinking, he obviously wasn't ready to share it yet, and she wanted to maintain her promise not to push him.

She exhaled and stood under the water, rinsing the floral soap from her body, and the conditioner from her hair while watching the suds swirl the drain before disappearing. She ran her hands sensually up her body and took a deep, steadying breath. She found herself wanting desperately to be touched. By him. But she didn't dare do anything with Din just on the other side of the door. She needed to meditate to wash this feeling away for the time being…

She switched off the water and dried herself before dressing in her now cleaned clothes, then braided her hair. Tonight, since she was just going to meditate before going to sleep, she let the braids hang down over her shoulders rather than pinning them up. She wiped clean a swath of space onto the fogged mirror to gaze momentarily at her reflection. Her skin was pink from the heat of the shower and the intense desires she was feeling. Looking down she turned towards the door.

As soon as she went into the shower, Din whipped his helmet back off his head. He remained in the same place as she left him for the duration of her shower. He tried, and failed, to clear his mind. He just wanted a few minutes' peace, but it was not to be; his thoughts drifted from her, to the kid, and back again, and soon enough, he heard her turn off the water and knew she'd be coming out of the washroom soon. He closed his eyes tiredly and took a deep breath before huffing it out, annoyed with himself.

She knocked on the bathroom door, asking permission to reenter the room and he put his helmet back on. "Okay," he called to her. As soon as she opened the door, he _really _wished she would have stayed in there, because when she stepped out, she looked amazing. Her skin was pink from an obviously searing hot shower, and the way she'd braided her hair made her look even more beautiful, if that were possible. It was braided like before, but this time, perhaps for ease, she let the long braids hang down over her shoulders and down her back rather than pinning them up and out of the way. Din stood quickly.

"Finished in there?"

She nodded and before she could say anything else, he said, "Okay. I want to shower too," and walked past her. Before he closed the door, he looked back at her and said, "Go ahead and go to sleep if you're tired, I want to get back to the ship pretty early."

Once, he closed the door and locked it, he leaned against it and yanked his helmet roughly off of his head. So roughly, that his neck stung for a moment from the motion. He winced and rubbed it. _Damn… _he thought as he placed his helmet on the counter. She had driven him crazy just then… unintentionally of course. He hoped he hadn't acted too rudely or suspiciously, but he felt a twitch in his groin that necessitated a hasty exit. It didn't help that as he walked by her into the washroom, he smelled the flowery soap provided by the resort on her, and it was intoxicating. Now, he smelled it overwhelmingly in here.

Balling his hands into fists, he walked to the shower and turned it on and undressed quickly dropping his gear and weapons into a pile at his feet, stuffed his clothes into the ion cleaner in growing frustration, and jumped into the shower. It was hot… painfully so. How could she possibly like the shower this hot? He turned it down a couple of notches and waited for it to cool. He closed his eyes and took such a deep breath that it hurt his lungs. All he could see behind his eyelids was her. The delightfully pink skin, the long plaits draped over her shoulders… he sighed as he let out the breath. Placing both of his hands on the wall, he dropped his head and let the water hit the back of it and run down over his muscular back… he wasn't going to be able to hold out forever on Ter'a… she was _so_ alluring… physically, mentally, and emotionally. She was strong. She could fight. She knew who she was. She was smart. She was cunning. She understood him. She was kind and soft, yet tough and powerful… All of these thoughts came in rapid-fire succession and ended with her face hovering before his closed eyes. He felt overwhelmed.

He looked up at the wall and rolled his eyes. He knew he was fighting a losing battle and so he lowered his right hand to grasp his cock. He wasn't at all surprised to find himself rock hard, and his eyes rolled back in his head as soon as he closed his fingers around his erection. He bit his lip and hung his head again as he stroked himself. It felt amazing but he had to keep quiet. His left hand, still against the wall, balled into a tight fist and he grunted quietly and threw his head back again as he continued to stroke, more quickly now. He was coming to come soon, and he wanted nothing more than to be completely silent when it happened. Suddenly, his back arched, he squeezed his eyes shut, and he screwed up his face as he came, hard. It was everything he could do not to shout out as he rode the pleasure through to the end.

Finally, his body relaxed, and he rested his head against the wall breathing deeply. That had felt nice. It also put his mind into a blissful fog… his mind was finally blank, and he was ready to sleep.

It took a few moments for him to muster the strength to even reach up to turn the shower off, let alone get out to dry and dress, but soon he had dressed up to his tunic, trousers, belt, and socks. He took up his helmet, slid it on, and opened the door.

He honestly thought that she'd have gone to sleep by the time he came out, but she wasn't. She told him about meditation, and he was interested to see it. But when he came out of the washroom and saw her floating a foot off the ground and in a state of complete relaxation, he was mesmerized. He stood there and looked at her, taking in everything. She was sitting cross-legged with her hands resting, palm down, on her knees. Her shoulders were relaxed but not slouching, and her posture was still straight. Raising his eyes to her face he thought that she looked so relaxed that she could have been asleep. Until she smiled and said, "All finished?"

He started. How did she know he was there? Did she know what he'd done in the shower?

"Yeah, but take as long as you need, I'm going to lie down and try to sleep." He knew there was no trying… after his actions in the shower, he wasn't going to be conscious much longer than the time it took to pull the sheets up.

"It's all right," she said, her eyes fluttering open as she sank slowly back to the ground. She stood up and went to the side of the bed opposite him and pulled down the sheet. "I'm tired too."

They climbed into the bed and Din thought he might've felt a little self-conscious if he wasn't so tired. Something he definitely wasn't used to. They were at least three feet apart on the giant bed, so it was essentially like they weren't even in the same bed. Din thought, as she said goodnight and turned on her side to face away from him, about when they'd slept together on his tiny bunk in the Crest…

He was far too tired after his shower to give it too much thought though and drifted, almost immediately off to sleep.

Ter'a blinked. The sun's very tip had _just_ peeked above the horizon. She sat up straight feeling disconcerted. Something was wrong… or it was about to be? She turned and saw the Mandalorian sleeping to her left with his helmet on. She put her hand on his chest to try and wake him, and he sucked in a breath that told her she had startled him slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked groggily as he sat up and looked at the clock.

"I think it's time to go…" she said from the foot of the bed. She'd already gotten up and started to pile his weapons and armor onto the edge of the bed.

"Why? What's wrong? He said, fully awake now. "I set an alarm for an hour from now…" but he too had gotten up and began to adorn the items as she was placing them on the bed.

"I'm not entirely sure… the child is okay, but I just have a feeling our respite is over on this planet… we need to move on."

He stopped and looked at her as she was slipping on her boots. He hadn't seen her this flustered before and it unnerved him slightly. He reached out grabbed her wrists to steady her for a moment and looked into her eyes. "Take it easy. We'll finish getting ready and get out of here as quick as possible but take a breath."

She closed her eyes and nodded. He was right. There was nothing happening yet. As long as they didn't waste time, she felt that they'd be fine.

He released her and began to dress again, a little more quickly. Since she'd only had to put on her boots, she began to help him, shoving his blaster into its holster, handing him weaponry, and so on. Finally, she did up his cloak just like she'd done on Takodana, and just like then he stooped low so she could see what she was doing. This time however, there was no time to marvel in the tenderness of the moment as they hurried from the room.

The cab ride to the landing platform brought a new wave of anxiety that she couldn't place, and she began to maintain a constant connection to the child to see what he was feeling. After Din paid the driver, and they rode the turbolift up, she ran to the Crest and lowered the ramp.

They ran inside and parted ways as he ran to the cockpit and she to the child. As soon as she opened the door, he held up his hands to her and she picked him up. "How are you, little one?" she asked with a smile, as she carried him to the cockpit after Din. He was lifting off the landing pad as she emerged from the ladder and buckled in.

"Ready?" Din asked her.

"All ready," she said.

"Okay, I set course for Tatooine, we'll be there in three days."

She nodded as they left the atmosphere of Coruscant and entered hyperspace.


	10. Chapter 10 - Hyperspace Again

a/n - The next chapter after this will be on Tatooine and I'm planning so far to write some lemon zest into it… nothing much but like I said, slow burn. I hope this chapter didn't seem to sappy? Din isn't too sappy of a guy so it can be difficult to think of how he'd react to things.

**Chapter 10 – Hyperspace Again**

"Turns out your intuition was right." Din set a cup of water on the floor along with a bowl of Corellian Apple slices for the kid… they seemed to be a favorite of his…, and he came waddling up cooing his thanks at Din. He pulled a slice out of the bowl and began to gnaw on it before shoveling it whole into his mouth and going for more.  
Din shook his head and smiled at the kid as he looked up at Ter'a and continued to shovel apple slices into his mouth. It was about eight hours after they left Coruscant and they were settling in for another sixty-plus hours until they needed to exit hyperspace. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor as she'd let the kid play around her while Din prepared the apple for him. The kid was very keen to spend some time with them after they returned to the ship after such a long time away.

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously, looking up at him.

"About leaving Coruscant so early..."

She looked concerned, "What happened?"

"Well," he began pulling his chair up next to her and looking down at her. "There was an explosion in Project H… and Ao is dead."

"What?!" She looked positively shocked. He squeezed her shoulder and in his helmet, he gave her a small smile.  
"Looks like Gideon sent men looking for his informant after those troopers failed to kill me and get the kid on Takodana on his information." He brushed a stray stand of hair out of her face before continuing, "After you were so worried about us leaving so quickly, I was curious about your intuition. I've been monitoring Coruscant's news vids since we left, and about a half hour ago I saw some coverage that an explosion in Project H destroyed virtually the entire Project."

Her eyes widened as she looked at him  
"And Ao?"

He leaned back, "Hmm, well... the vids said that a blue, male Twi'lek liquor vendor in the market district was shot and killed. But, and I think you'll agree with me, it's too much of a coincidence to not be Ao?"

She nodded and furrowed her brow, "With all that happened, I can't possibly see how it could be any other liquor vendor who is also a blue Twi'lek male..."

"So... Gideon was obviously on Coruscant looking for us, or information about us, around the same time we were leaving. You knew that we shouldn't have stuck around too much longer..."

Privately, he really liked having her Force intuition around.

Ter'a sat up on her knees and faced him. Thoughtfully, she nodded and said, "He definitely would have found the Crest if we'd stayed..." Now she looked pensive and he leaned toward her questioningly. "What do you think are the chances that he did find the Crest before we left?"

Din smiled again. "Even if he did, he doesn't know where we're going... we didn't tell anyone. And we checked for bugs and trackers again when we first entered hyperspace."

She looked up at him and smiled and he knew that she knew he was right... Gideon would be able to find them again, sure, but he'd have to do a lot more work unless they slipped up. Or, he thought with pang of nerves, if his contact or someone else on Tatooine was a spy... Well, he thought, they'd probably have to kill that spy too then…

Suddenly, he remembered something and stood up causing her to lean back and look up at him in surprise.

"I almost forgot, I got something for you..." 

—

Ter'a looked curiously after him as he turned away and went to the crates of supplies and began to rifle through them looking for something. She looked down at the kid as he tried to hand her back the empty apple bowl.

"Here," came Din's voice.

She looked up to see that he had begun to pull several things out of the crates.

"I got a few things to help you feel more comfortable here..."

She stood up smiling and walked over to see what was in the packages he was pulling out.

When she reached him, they looked at each other for a moment before he handed her the first package. She looked down as she took it and turned it over in her hands to find the tab to open it. Once she pulled the tab an air-compressed soft down pillow popped out and began to expand back to its normal size in her hands.

"It's down..." he said, "I asked Mekkie for the softest he could get... I hope it'll work well for you..."

She heard the notes of nervousness in his voice; he worried that she wouldn't like it.  
She loved it. She smiled up at him and shook her head, unable to find other words she just said, "It's wonderful," as he handed her a second package in which she found a blanket made of the softest Nabooan fleece. She rubbed the corner against her cheek and closed her eyes. It was sooo soft... When she opened her eyes again, she noticed how closely they were standing again. She looked up at him. She rather liked standing this close. She felt that she could _almost_ see his face...

The next packages he handed her contained a sleeping mat and a chair she could sit in at mealtimes.  
Ter'a felt very touched by Din's thoughtfulness and she couldn't think of what to say. Throughout her life, she couldn't remember getting many gifts... though she supposed these weren't really gifts... just necessities. Even Maz has only really gotten her things she'd needed as she grew up. Ter'a had never minded of course. Credits were tight when you ran a business and she always felt so grateful at Maz's functional gifts. Just like now.

She clutched at the blanket, her favorite of the new items, and said, "I don't know what to say..."

"You don't need to... I needed to get some stuff for you to be more comfortable... I just hope you like what I picked..."

She stepped into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He seemed surprised, but he put his arms around her all the same. From where her head rested against his chest, she said, "I'm very grateful. It's all amazing. Thank you."

As he rubbed her back slightly, he said in response, "Anytime..."

Neither of them stepped away immediately. Neither seemed to want to break the embrace... it felt so nice to her, having him hold her like this...

The child made a noise at their feet and they separated slightly to look down but kept their arms around each other. He wanted someone to pick him up so he could join the hug too. Ter'a smiled and Din sighed as he let go of her to stoop and pick him up. With the child in his arms, Din looked at him and he held out his tiny hands toward Ter'a. Obligingly, Din stepped close to her again and pulled her in with his right arm around her waist as he held the child with his left. She put her arm on Din's and let the child grab her index finger. He closed his eyes and smiled, and so did Ter'a.

—-

Din was happy. As he stood here with the kid in his left arm and Ter'a in his right, his clan felt complete. The thoughts he kept having about Ter'a threatened to invade his mind, but right now he wanted to enjoy the moment, so he forced them away.  
They stood there without moving much for several minutes while the kid continued to enjoy his time with them after being in the closet for so long. He really liked Ter'a, and Din really trusted the kids judge of character, so it further cemented Ter'a's infallibility in his mind. He looked at her and thought. He'd never had someone on his side so completely before. He'd had partners, yeah, but none that he trusted completely. He always expected to be stabbed in the back at some point... He trusted Kuill and Cara, but they were only temporary partners and Kuill had died protecting the child. Something he thought he'd probably always feel guilty for.  
After a few minutes, the kid wanted down again and so he set him down and Ter'a pulled him in for a final embrace before following the kid to the bed as he seemed to be tired now. She lifted him onto the bed and covered him with her new blanket as he curled up near Din's pillow.

Din pulled out her new mess chair and set it up next to his own. After she finished with the kid, she came and sat next to him.  
"He falls asleep fast," she noted.

"Lucky..." he said.

She turned to him, brow furrowed, "Do you have trouble sleeping?"

"It depends."

"On?"

"Hm... where I am, if I have stuff on my mind, if there's danger... you know..."

She nodded, "So where do you sleep best?"

He thought for a moment... the best sleep he'd had in recent memory was when they fell asleep together on the way to Coruscant. He couldn't even recall falling asleep then. Then last night, he fell asleep almost immediately but was plagued by dreams about Ter'a. While these dreams had been of a pleasant nature, they kept waking him up in fears that he'd woken her.

"Hyperspace I suppose... I guess for me, it's a place you can feel really comfortable."

"That makes sense..." she paused, and her stomach growled audibly. She put her hands over her stomach and smiled. "I didn't realize I was hungry..."

Din stood up and turned to the mess counter. And began to pull some tip-yip and vegetables out of the cooler. He was just pulling out a knife to chop them up when she put her hand on his arm. "Tell me what to help with."

He handed her the knife and said, "Do you want to chop vegetables?"

"Okay. What are you planning to make?"

"Tip-yip stew?"

"Sounds delicious..." she took the knife, vegetables, and cutting board to the table and began to chop them.

Din started the hot plate and added some oil to a pot before adding the tip-yip. After he browned it, he pulled out some tip-yip stock and Nabooan flour and added it to the pot. As he was stirring it, Ter'a said from behind him, "Are you ready for the veggies?"  
Nodding, he stepped aside to let her tip the veggies into the pot. He gave it a final stir before placing the lid on it.  
"How long do you cook it for?"

"About two hours." He pulled out some Kaadu jerky, sat down, and handed it to her. "Here, I know you're really hungry."

"Thanks," she sat too and accepted the jerky. "How come you don't have a droid companion? It could help you with the cooking and probably some of your work too..."

Din stopped for a moment before continuing. He hadn't told her about his past yet... but he supposed now was as good a time as any. He swallowed. "Well..." he looked for the right words. "I was a foundling. When I was little, my parents were killed by Separatist droids. Since then," he shrugged, "I guess I've had a certain... distrust... of droids."

"Oh no... that's... Din that's awful."

Din shrugged again, "It was. They attacked our village in the morning, just after the sun had risen. Hundreds of them. My parents took me and ran, but there was nowhere to escape to." He looked down at his hands and continued. "They hid me in a grain storage closet in the ground and closed the door. A few seconds later there was an explosion outside… then gunfire… then the doors opened, and a droid was standing there pointing its gun at me, but a Mandalorian came and killed it. He held out his hand to me..." He looked up at her, but she said nothing, she just stared at him with her lips parted slightly. He continued, "I took his hand, and he pulled me out of the grain storage. I didn't see my parents anywhere… the explosion had completely destroyed them. The Mandalorian picked me up and used his jetpack to take me to their ship and away from my home."

"The rest… is history I guess," he stood up and stirred the stew.

"Do you regret it? Swearing the Creed?" she asked his back.

Returning to sit he said, "No. It gave me purpose. A calling, I suppose you can call it… Do you regret becoming a Jedi?"

"I don't…" she cocked her head to look wryly at him. "…but I technically never became a Jedi. The Jedi Order was destroyed when I was only a few months into my padawan training. I had books, and Maz's guidance, and… that's all," sighing she said, "I didn't get the proper guidance to remain a whole Jedi… one who operates only in the light."

"What does that mean?"

Smiling she said, "It means, I was able to follow my feelings and desires more… that path leads one down the Dark side from time to time. But as long as your heart is good, and you meditate in the Light often, you can become strong in both sides… it means that you can wield the strengths of both… and the limits of neither… _if_ your strong enough… I use the light side of the Force every day. It guides my actions and my heart nearly always… but, sometimes… anger comes… or passion or other strong feelings. It is just part of _being_… it's natural… and with it comes the Dark side of the Force. Anger, but not hatred, can wield the Dark side and still come out okay in the end… after the shadow of anger had passed. It's what makes me a Grey Jedi… the use of both the light and dark sides of the Force…" she finished awkwardly, hoping she explained it right.

"I'm still not sure I understand," he said. He felt like he understood her premise, but he hadn't seen it yet, not really. Maybe if he saw it… the Dark side, he would understand.

She nodded as though she knew his thoughts, "If you saw, you would understand."

He didn't say anything but got up and stirred the stew. It was almost ready.

"So," she said, watching him. "Have you ever made peace with your past?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Like, you went with me to the Jedi Temple so I could get closure for my past. Have you ever done that?"

"My homeworld? Hmph… I don't ever want to go back there…"

She got up and walked to where he stood at the hot plate watching over the stew. He didn't look at her. He didn't want to think about his past. His childhood. That was painful, too painful… He had his life ripped from him just like she had. Didn't she understand that that was painful? He rolled his eyes… of course she did… and she'd shared that pain with him.

He turned to her and asked, "How old were you when they first took you to the Jedi Temple to be a Jedi?" 

She looked surprised at his question, but she stood her ground. "One…"

He cocked his head. She'd had no choice to choose her path… even less so than he did. He knew that now… but perhaps Jedi believed that the Force chose their path for them? He conceded that maybe she had been right when she told him that the Force bound all living things, even those who couldn't wield it…

He turned to her, "I never wanted to go back there… but I've settled my past."

"Are you sure? Your mistrust of droids says otherwise."

He sighed. "Maybe. I don't know… Right now, I just want to focus on the kid… getting him where he needs to go…"

She nodded. She wasn't going to push that issue with him for the time being, he knew. And he was grateful. "The food is ready," he said. "Hand me those bowls." He pointed to a small stack of newly purchased bowls on the other side of the mess counter.

Ter'a reached for the bowls. She knew he didn't quite seem at peace with his past, but he wasn't in the mood to discuss it. Would he ever be? She wasn't sure… Maybe it was just droids he still hadn't come to terms with…

She handed him the bowls and he took them without looking at her. Now, she began to worry that she'd really upset him. He handed her back a bowl full of the stew. It smelled delicious. He brushed past her with a second bowl and set it on the table and sat down.

She stood there with the bowl in her hands. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to apologize, but she didn't want to aggravate him further. She turned around and pulled her new mess chair into the corner with the same crate she'd used before as a table. Sitting, she set the bowl on it and began to eat.

She heard him take off his helmet and begin eating too. They sat in silence for about twenty minutes as they ate. The stew was delicious. She'd never have expected him to be a decent cook… but then, she supposed that he couldn't subsist on jerky and apples alone. She smiled to herself and looked down. Her smile vanished again as she thought about how she'd upset him. She broke her promise of waiting and doing things on his terms… _Stupid_, she thought, if he'd wanted to talk to her about this, or if he was ready, he would have done it already….

She sat in silence in her corner, having finished eating. She felt as though she were in time out here in the corner, like a child. She heard him put his helmet back on and take his bowl to the mess sink and the sound of the water as he rinsed it. She heaved a deep breath… she kept feeling worse…

"Can I take that for you?" She jumped. How had she not heard him come behind her? She looked up over her right shoulder into his visor. He looked down at her. She was having trouble reading him now. He looked quite impassive. She thought he must be very annoyed with her…

She looked down at her empty bowl and handed it to him and he turned away with it without a word. After he rinsed it, he climbed the ladder to the cockpit and was out of sight.

Ter'a huffed out the breath she'd been holding, and her shoulders slumped. He was furious with her. She just knew it… She'd invaded the privacy of his past uninvited. She should have dropped it after he'd said that the rest was history. Why did she feel like she needed to pry? Needed to get him closure. Just because he'd gone with her to the Temple didn't mean that he'd want her to help him with his past. She dropped her face into her hands. She had to apologize. Not now though. She'd wait until he calmed down a bit, she'd give him some space.

Pushing the chair back from the crate, she stood and picked up the sleeping mat, blanket, and pillow he got her and took it back to her corner near the carbon freezer. She'd sleep for a while and give him his time. When she woke up in a few hours, hopefully he wouldn't be upset anymore, and she would tell him she was sorry for invading his privacy.

She laid out the mat and pillow and laid down on it, covering herself with the soft fleece blanket. Turning over to face the freezer, she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

She was walking down a corridor. She looked around. She knew this place… it was the Jedi Temple. She was heading for the turbolifts that went directly to the council chamber. Why is she heading there? No one lived here anymore….

On the way she passed several statues. Who were they? She looked closer, her old master? Next was Maz, and after that was a woman with a miniscule resistance symbol tattooed to her left cheek? She didn't know her… After came a dark-skinned man with slicked back greying hair and black Imperial armor… this statue was holding the darksaber? She recognized him as Moff Gideon. How strange…

The next statue was tiny… the child? She passed it, why was this random collection of statues here?

Only her old master had been a Jedi…

She walked up to the final statue right next to the door to the lifts. Din. She squinted her eyes at it… then back at the others… she wished she knew what was happening.

Stepping into the lift, she didn't get a chance to push the button before the lift shuddered upwards to take her to the tallest spire of the Temple and the Jedi Council Chamber. Then, as quickly as it started, it was over… perhaps too quickly?

Confused, Ter'a waited for the doors to open. When they did, she stepped into the sunlit Council chamber and looked around. It was as empty as it had been when she was here with Din. But where was he? Why were all those statues there? Why was she even here?

The lift doors whooshed open behind her and she spun to come face to face with Moff Gideon. He held up the darksaber in his right hand and the child in the left by the scruff of his neck. At his feet was Din's body. He had run him through, front to back, with the darksaber. Right through the chest. Ter'a screamed, "NOOOOO! DIN!"

She wanted to run forward to hold him close to her, but Gideon would surely kill her. Then, without warning he held the child up in front of him and sliced him in half with the saber. "NOOOOOO! HOW COULD YOU?!" she screamed. "THE CHILD!" Gideon began to laugh, a high maniacal laugh as he began to advance on her with the Dark Saber raised.

He was going to try and kill her next.

She pulled out her lightsaber hilt only to find that it was the broken end of a twig from a Takodanian tree.

Gideon laughed harder still as Ter'a dropped the stick and backed away from him and into the Emperor's desk where she tripped and fell over onto her behind.

She began to cry as she saw the bodies of Din and the child behind Gideon's legs. She screamed at him to leave her alone, not to kill her, but he laughed on and stalked closer to her…

"Ter'a," he said mockingly.

"NOOOO, PLEASE!"

"Ter'a!" he said, but this time it was Din's voice.

"STOP IT!"

"TER'A!" he reached her and shook her….

She flailed out and hit him. She was hitting every part of him she could reach as hard as she could, using the Force to put extra strength behind it, and continued to cry out.

"TER'A! Please wake up! … … PLEASE, Wake up!"

Ter'a opened her eyes and let out a gasping breath as though she'd just come up for air after nearly drowning. She didn't know where she was, she was so disoriented. She looked around frantically and remembered that she was on the Razor Crest, with Din… and the child…

She looked up at Din bewildered as he looked back down at her.

She was breathing hard, like she'd run for miles. Her heart was racing, and she realized with a jolt that she was crying, sobbing…

She was lying on the floor, the blanket tangled at her feet. Din was kneeling over her holding her shoulders. And her hands hurt. A lot.

"Are you okay?" his voice was full of concern, "You were having a nightmare."

"Huh? What?" she was having trouble catching her breath as her panic attack continued on in the waking world.

"You were screaming in your sleep. I came down here to see what was going on and you were screaming and crying…" he sounded worried.

She understood now. Her brain had finally caught up… "I… was dreaming?"

"Yeah…" he nodded. "What happened?"

She closed her eyes and covered them with her aching hand. She thought hard trying to remember. Now that she was awake, the dreams' contents were leaking out of her mind quickly. "I… I was at the Temple. There were statues…" she described them to him as best as she could remember, but she didn't forget any of them. "Then when I got to the top… to the Council chambers… Gideon was there…" She looked up at Din, still terrified and breathing heavily. "He'd killed you. You were dead… at his feet. And then… then he killed the child. Then he was going to kill me too…" Tears started falling freely from her eyes again. She sniffed, "He called my name, mocking me… and then… I woke up."

"I called your name. That was me," he said quietly, sitting down on the floor facing her and she sat up. "Let me see your hands."

"What?" she was finally catching her breath.

"I think you were dreaming that he grabbed you… but that was me you were hitting. You were hitting me hard. Really hard. It had to be painful…"

She looked at her hands in her lap and gasped. She was shocked to see her knuckles bleeding and swelling. They looked like she'd been in a bar fight… Deep purple and blue bruises were already setting in.

He reached across and took her right in both of his. It hurt having them touched and she sucked in a sharp breath. Even as gentle as he was being, she couldn't help but wince.

He leaned in and held her hand close to his visor, examining it. She watched him quietly as he looked and then took her left hand and looked at it too. Without saying anything, he released her, got up and walked away. She sat there, still in shock from what she'd seen in the dream. He came back with a bag and sat down again in the same place and opened the bag. She saw that it was full of medical supplies. He scooted closer to her so that their knees touched and placed her right hand on his left knee and began to clean it. He wiped it clean of blood and spread soothing bacta gel across her knuckles and then put a staple in her middle knuckle to close a particularly deep cut, before wrapping a bandage across all four knuckles.

She watched him carefully and silently as he worked. She was beginning to think more about how tender he was being with her now, than about the dream and what she saw in it.

"I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice, as he gently placed her now bandaged hand back in her lap.

He stopped in the middle of pulling her left hand towards his right knee. "Sorry? For what?"

"For pushing you earlier," she said in the still tiny voice, "about your past." She spoke to her lap.

He set her hand on his knee and began to clean it. "No worries."

"But I am worried," she said a little stronger, "I know I made you angry."

He stopped again and looked into her face. "You didn't make me angry… you… made me think."

"You… you weren't mad at me for invading your privacy?"

When he spoke, it was gentle, "You shared everything about your past with me. You've been open with me from the start. I- uh- haven't exactly returned the favor." He looked down and started to clean her wounds again.

"Then why didn't you talk to me?"

"You made me think… I guess I was lost in thought… Only in the last couple days has not being able to read my facial expressions been an issue," she heard the smile in his voice and felt silly for thinking he'd been mad at her.

"What were you thinking?"

He sighed. "About whether or not I've really made peace with my past."

"And?"

"I think I should try and get over my distrust of droids… but I'm not sure I need to return to my home planet. I don't feel like I have any unfinished business there if you understand?"

She nodded. "Separatist droids weren't exactly known for sentience in a positive way. I always felt like they were artificial intelligence in it's most literal and rudimentary sense…"

He looked at her and she knew he was smiling. "Maybe I should give _real_ droids another chance then huh?"

She shrugged. "I won't force you," she smiled.

"There…" he lifted his hands from her now bandaged left hand. "How do they feel?"

"Like they've been run over by stampeding banthas…." She winced as she lifted them and flexed her fingers in front of her face.

He reached up and took her wrists tenderly in his large hands and lowered them. "Easy. They're gunna hurt like hell for a couple of days at least… you were hitting me hard…. like your life depended on it."

"You weren't there… it was awful… … He killed you. When he came out of the lift, you were just… there, dead…. At his feet… with a hole in your chest…." She looked down. Tears were threatening to come again, and her lip trembled. She wasn't going to forget the image of him dead like that in a hurry…

"Hey…" Din reached up and stroked her cheek with his gloved thumb. "It was just a dream. Okay? I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He certainly was here… she was so grateful for him. Though… she'd known him only a couple of days and she couldn't believe how many times she's cried in front him already. More than she could remember crying in _years…_ She put her hand gingerly over his. "I just can't get that image of you out of my mind…" she sniffled. Her body gave an involuntary shudder.

He moved his hand from her face made to pull her towards him. She obliged as he pulled her across his lap and cradled her there. He stroked her hair and wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall. He laid her head against his shoulder and tilted his head to rest it on top of hers for a few moments. Then in a quick, smooth movement he made to stand up, holding her in his arms and walked them to his bed.

He laid her down on it facing the wall before curling up close behind her with the child at their feet. The kid slept _a lot…_

"Don't turn around please," he whispered in her ear. Then to her great surprise, she heard him take his helmet off and set it above their heads.

He reached his left arm up and over her and pulled her close against him. She felt his breath against her hair and his chin on top of her head, and smiled as she covered his hand with her own tender, bruised and bandaged hand. She felt a jolt as her hand touched the bare skin of his hand. He'd taken off his gloves too… her smile grew for a moment before she nestled herself against him and they fell asleep in each others' arms with nothing between them.


	11. Chapter 11 - Tatooine

a/n – Some slightly zesty lemon in this chapter, but not quite the full sauce yet. This is my first time writing anything sexy, so let me know what you think.

Also, for the Huttese Din speaks with his contact on Watto, here is a translation:

De wanna wanga – A form of greeting

mi bookie – my boy (not sure on the spelling for this one, but it's from A New Hope)

Coona tee-tocky malia – what took you so long?

hi chuba du naga – what do you want?

Man-tah - speak

Me jewz ju - goodbye

Pateesa – Friend

**Chapter 11 – Tatooine**

Din sighed and took a deep breath. He gently pulled Ter'a closer against his chest. Her hair smelled floral and tickled his nose slightly. He smiled. He didn't want to open his eyes because that would mean he'd have to get up. Nevertheless, his brain was kicking back into gear and he started to think about what led them here again…

She thought that she'd made him angry by talking about his past. He felt bad that he'd become so lost in thought that he left her for the cockpit without a word, but he was still getting used to having someone around to share his thoughts with. She'd gone to sleep and had an awful nightmare. He blinked now and opened his eyes against his will. His brow furrowed. She dreamed that the Moff had killed him and it freaked her out. He thought about what he'd seen after he first heard her screaming…

He was sitting in the cockpit checking the systems and trying to decide on how he felt about his past. Just like his thoughts about Ter'a, these thoughts started cyclically, but eventually he was realizing that he had more of an issue with the droids that killed his parents than the place where it had happened… he nearly fell out of his chair when he heard her scream. It was an awful, piercing scream like someone was trying to kill her. He couldn't remember when he'd gotten down that ladder so fast. He nearly missed the top rung and fell the whole way down… when he came into the hold he didn't see her and looked around frantically before another bone-chilling scream came from the back of the hold, followed by the new sound of her sobbing. The kid was looking scared on the bed. His heart was racing now, and he ran to the carbon freezer and, as he slid to a stop on a the permasteel floor, he saw that, once again, she felt like she needed to sleep back here… why wasn't she on his bed?

She was dead asleep, but she was cowering into the floor and sobbing. She kept screaming "NOO, PLEASE!" with her face buried in the pillow. He rushed over to her, knelt down, and turned her over to try and wake her, but as soon as he touched her she squeezed her eyes shut further, screamed again, and began to hit him as hard as she could as though she were trying to beat off whoever was trying to hurt her. _What in the hell was she dreaming?!_

"Ter'a," he said calmly, not wanting to scare her more, and trying, unsuccessfully, to dodge her punches.

But still she screamed, "NOOOO, PLEASE!" and continued to sob and beat him.

"Ter'a!" he said louder this time, shaking her slightly.

"STOP IT!" she screamed terrified.

He was starting to get concerned that she wasn't waking. "TER'A!" he yelled. A concerned coo behind him told him the kid had come to see what was happening.

She continued to flail out and hit him. She was hitting every part of him she could reach and continued to cry. Finally, she punched him hard across the cheek of his helmet, snapping his head sideways. He winced. Not because it hurt him, but because he knew that it had to have hurt her. Surely enough, he saw a deep, bloody cut on the middle knuckle of her right hand where it had caught the edge of his mask…

Desperate to help her, he finally yelled, "TER'A! Please, wake up! …." His brow was furrowed in concern, "… PLEASE, Wake up!"

Finally, her eyes snapped open. Her eyes were dilated, she was breathing hard, and she was disoriented. Her breathing was coming harder than when they'd run for blocks on Coruscant. She was absolutely terrified of what was trying to hurt her in the dream, and he felt a stabbing ache of pity for her. He wanted to help her relax… She took a huge breath as though someone had been choking her and had only just released her.

He was still holding her shoulders and watched as she began to come back to reality, but she still had tears streaming from her eyes.

Once he saw that she was lucid again, still worried he said, "Are you okay? You were having a nightmare."

She was hyperventilating as she tried to control her panic. "Huh? Wha-?"

"You were screaming in your sleep. I came down here to see what was going on and you were screaming and crying…" he was still very anxious.

She blinked furiously for a moment "I… was dreaming."

"Yeah…what happened?"

He scanned her features as she closed her eyes a searched her memory. She told him, very shakily, what she remembered about the dream. She'd seen statues of people, including Cara, whom she'd never met, and that Gideon had killed him with the fabled Darksaber. She'd said it was a real. A lightsaber made by the first Mandalorian Jedi, and that it had a black blade. He wondered vaguely if the Moff really had that weapon or if it was just part of the dream?

He'd also apparently killed the kid and was advancing on her too when Din had shaken her awake, which was why she was so terrified when he had touched her to try and wake her. Then she'd started to cry again, but less than before. She was calming down a little.

She said, "He called my name, mocking me… and then… I woke up."

He shook his head and said quietly, "I called your name. That was me." He released her shoulders and sat in front of her cross-legged and she sat up and did the same. She winced as she pushed herself up.

"Let me see your hands," he held out his own.

"What?" she was finally catching her breath.

"I think you were dreaming that he grabbed you… but that was me you were hitting. You were hitting me hard. Really hard. It had to be painful…"

When she looked at her hands she gasped, and her eyes widened. She was clearly shocked to see her knuckles bleeding and swelling.

He looked sadly at her, then at her hands. He reached across and took her right hand gingerly in both of his. She sucked in a sharp breath and winced.

He looked at her hands for a moment. She had deep black, purple, and blue bruises blossoming all over her small, delicate hands. Most of her knuckles had burst open and were bleeding, including the one that had hit his helmet full force. That one was so deep that it was going to need a staple. They were all swelling considerably. He got up to get the ship's medical bag and came back. When he sat down again and looked at her, she was still in a considerable amount of shock.

Coming close enough to her that their knees were touching he gently picked up her right hand, placed it on his own knee and began, carefully, delicately, to clean and bandage it. She watched him quietly as he worked, and his ministrations seemed to have a calming effect on her. As he glanced up periodically, he saw that she looked calmer each time.

"I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice, as he gently placed her now bandaged hand back into her lap.

He stopped in the middle of pulling her left hand towards his right knee. Confused, he said, "Sorry? For what?"

"For pushing you earlier about your past." She didn't look at him.

He set her hand on his knee and began to clean it. "No worries." She seemed to take his silence after their earlier conversation as anger at her. He felt guilty.

"But I am worried… I know I made you angry," her voice was stronger now.

He paused and looked into her face. "You didn't make me angry… you made me think."

"You… you weren't mad at me for invading your privacy?"

He felt awful, now for making her think he was angry at her. Especially now after she'd had this terrifying nightmare. As gently as he could, he said, "You shared everything about your past with me. You've been open with me from the start. I haven't exactly returned the favor." He looked down and began to clean her wounds again, even more delicately this time. He felt even more awful now, after reminding the both of them that he hadn't been as welcoming to her as she'd been to him.

"Then why didn't you talk to me?"

"You made me think… I guess I was lost in thought…" He thought of his internal arguments the last few days and smiled, "Only in the last couple days has not being able to read my facial expressions been an issue."

"What were you thinking?"

He sighed as he wiped the last of the blood from her knuckles. "About whether or not I've really made peace with my past."

"And?"

"I think I need to try and get over my distrust of droids… but I'm not sure I need to return to my home planet. I don't feel like I have any unfinished business there, if you understand?"

She nodded her understanding, "Separatist droids weren't exactly known for sentience in a positive way. I always felt like they were artificial intelligence in its most literal and rudimentary sense…"

He looked at her and knew that she knew he was smiling. "Maybe I should give _real_ droids another chance then huh?"

She shrugged. "I won't force you," she smiled.

"There…" he lifted his hands from her now bandaged left hand. "How do they feel?"

"Like… they've been run over by stampeding banthas…." She flinched as she lifted them and flexed her fingers in front of her face.

He reached up and took her wrists gently and lowered her hands from in front of her and held them gently. "Easy. They're gunna hurt like hell for a couple of days at least… you were hitting me hard…. Like your life depended on it."

She looked down, "You weren't there… it was awful. He killed you. When he came out of the lift, you were just… there, dead…. At his feet… with a hole in your chest…." Tears were threatening to come again, and her lip trembled. Din would be damned if he wanted to see her cry again, he hated it when she did that. He got the feeling that she didn't cry often, and it made him all the more intent on making sure she was happy again.

"Hey…" Din reached up and stroked her cheek. "It was just a dream. Okay? I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

When she closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, he smiled. He could feel her contentedness at him being here with her comforting her. As she put her hand over his she said, "I just can't get that image of you out of my mind…"

He furrowed his brow and took his hand from her face and motioned to pull her towards him. She obliged willingly as he pulled her into his lap and cradled her gently. He tilted his head to look at her beautiful face as he stroked her hair and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked past him, thinking of nothing but his touches. When he laid her head against his shoulder and tilted his head to rest it on top of hers, she sighed. He wanted to stay like this, but his foot was starting to fall asleep and he wanted to be in the bed now.

So, with a quick, smooth movement he stood up, still holding her securely in his arms and walked to his bed. The kid followed and climbed up a box at the foot of it and curled up like a cat.

Carefully, he laid her down facing the wall before sliding up onto the bed after and scooted up close behind her.

He came to a sudden decision and didn't think about it in case he lost his nerve. He whispered, "Don't turn around please," before pulling his gloves off his hands, and then the helmet off his head. He put his gloves in his helmet and set it above their heads.

It felt extremely strange to have his head exposed in such close proximity to another person. But it felt nice. His breath ruffled her hair which in turn tickled his face. He smiled.

He reached his arm up and over her and pulled her close against him. She fit against him perfectly.

She put her hand over his and it felt amazing to have the skin-on-skin contact with her. He smiled and nestled his face into her hair and closed his eyes.

… Now that he was awake again, he remembered holding her close, but couldn't remember falling asleep. _This. This_ was where he slept best…

He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. She sighed in her sleep and scooted back against him. He reached down and held up her left hand. His eyes widened. It looked awful.. Swollen and bruised. She probably needed her bandages to be changed soon as well. How long had they been asleep anyway? He turned back toward the mess to see the time. By his estimate, it had been about eight hours…lying his head back down he knew he needed to check the systems and their current position.

Sighing he reached up and grabbed his helmet, removed the gloves from it and slid it, somewhat resentfully, onto his head. For the first time, he didn't want to put it back on. Taking it off to go to sleep with her so close was a big step for him. And dangerous. She could have turned in her sleep and woken up face to face with him. The kid could see his face… He found, perhaps shockingly so, that he didn't particularly care. Now, for the first time, no cyclical argument came into his head, for which he was grateful.

Just as he was getting ready to slip off the bed and head up to the cockpit, she did turn. She flipped over and tossed her arm over his chest and sighed contentedly. He sighed. He hated to wake her… but he also needed to pee now. He set his hand down on hers and heard a sharp intake of breath. He lifted his hand quickly off her injured one, feeling remorseful. She lifted her head and looked at him with bleary eyes. "Hello."

He turned his head to look at her, "Hi," he smiled back at her.

"Was I dreaming, or did you take your helmet off before we fell asleep?"

"I did. I wanted you to feel comforted after your nightmare. And I wanted a night's sleep without the damned thing…"

She smiled and hugged him, then sat up wincing. She held her hands up and furrowed her brow. "Oh my God…" He looked at her two hands next to each other. The right one was just as damaged looking as the left, if not slightly more so because of the staple he put in her knuckle. He sat up too.

"Let me see…" he held out his hands and she put her hands gingerly into his.

"Hmm… Let me go to the head and then I'll change these bandages?"

She nodded and took her hands back as he got up.

He closed the door of the head, did his business, and washed his hands. When he came back out, she was standing near the medical bag stretching.

"I need to check the systems. Let's go up and I'll do everything there."

Nodding she turned to the ladder while he grabbed the medical bag. When he stepped beside her, she was staring apprehensively at the ladder, but then instead of trying to climb it, she jumped suddenly, clearing the whole distance and landing silently at the top like a cat. He looked up after her shaking his head and smiling at what she could do with the Force.

He climbed the ladder after her and set the bag down before sitting in the captain's chair to do a quick check of the ship's systems. Everything was still normal, and they only had a few hours of hyperspace travel left.

Turning to her, he held out his hands and she stepped close to him and held out her right hand first. "How do they feel today?"

"Very sore. Not too painful... just very sore."

"Can you make a fist or bend your fingers properly?"

"Yes, but I'd rather not…" he looked up at her and saw her smiling down at him playfully.

He smiled back at her, but of course, she could not see it.

As he changed her bandages, she knelt in front of him. He put on more bacta gel, and spread it this time, more liberally over her hand because it would help her bruises and swelling go down faster. He thought in hindsight, and with a fair amount of guilt, that he should have done this last night too. There was also the added bonus that he got to rub her hands, which felt nice. He had to take extra care though, as they were still extremely tender to the touch, but nonetheless, her eyes drifted shut and she seemed to enjoy the pampering.

When he finished and she opened her eyes again, he was reluctant to let go of her hands…

"How much longer?"

"Just a couple hours" he said as he realized he took nearly forty-five minutes to change her bandages and rub the bacta on her hands… he seemed to have rather made a meal out of it… but she hardly seemed to mind. She nodded and turned and jumped down the ladder chute.

He turned, smiling again at her Force tricks, to look out of the viewport. But he had only a moment to zone out and think about how her hands felt in his, when she was back. She gone to get the kid and jumped back up the ladder chute.

"Ahhh," laughed the kid as she handed him to Din. He pulled on Din's cloak and laughed as he handed him the knob of one of the Crest's controls that he liked so much. Ter'a wrung out her hands gingerly and sat down.

For the rest of the trip through hyperspace, they took it in turns sitting in silence, talking quietly about old stories and places they'd seen and people they knew, and watching the kid play, enthralled, with the control knob. His favorite game seemed to become trying to levitate it, after he saw Ter'a do it.

At last, the navigational computer beeped at Din that Tatooine was fast approaching and he helped Ter'a strap in before putting the kid in his pod container since she had trouble gripping at the moment. He sat back down in the captain's chair and pulled them out of hyperspace.

The whole of Tatooine's dry, tan, bulk loomed into view ahead of them as Din set coordinates for Mos Eisley and got a docking bay hangar to land the ship in from the space-traffic controllers.

Finally, the ship touched down and he powered everything down and stood up. He unhooked Ter'a's restraint and together they went with the kid down to the hold.

"I think we should decide if it's safe enough to leave the child here…"

Din turned to look at the bassinet. "Hmm. I think a better question is if it's safe enough to take him?"

"Do you?" she didn't seem convinced.

"Well, if we leave him here, he's alone, and we aren't able to watch the ship. If we take him, he'll be under our constant supervision and we can protect him…"

He saw the agreement in her eyes, but she said, "But people will see…"

Din nodded. "it's one or the other though… neither is my ideal choice. We'll just keep the pod closed."

"I guess he should come then," she sighed, nodding, and he knew what she was thinking: it was one thing to leave him on the ship on a civilized planet like Coruscant, where people mostly left other people's possessions alone. But here… Tatooine was literally a wild west and it was too risky.

Din picked up his pulse rifle and strapped it on, before clipping Ter'a's lightsaber hilt to her belt for her. It was both heavier _and_ lighter than he'd thought it would be. He wondered if she could wield it at the moment.

As if she picked up on his train of thought she said, "I'll be fine. Since you rubbed the bacta gel on my hands, they feel much better." She meant it.

Nodding he lowered the ramp and they stepped out into the dry air of Tatooine.

Tatooine had been the childhood home of both Luke Skywalker and his father, Anakin Skywalker… before he became Darth Vader and killed the Jedi. Including all the younglings at the Temple. _Younglings she knew_… she thought, annoyed. But he was dead now, and Luke Skywalker was allegedly trying to find new Force-sensitive children and begin anew.

Ter'a wished him the best. But she couldn't go there. She'd been Grey for too long, and she didn't want to taint the children, who were so susceptible, with any of the dark side habits she picked up…

They walked through the spaceport and out into the light and heat of the twin-suns and she said, "What's the name of this contact of yours?"

"Watto. An old Toydarian. Knows all the underground people around here."

"Can we trust him?"

"I don't."

"Great," she sighed, as they set off in search of Watto the Toydarian.

After an hour or so of asking around, Din got a location on the alien in a back alley a few blocks behind the cantina, so they headed there, hoping at last to see Watto.

As they rounded the corner, they heard the buzzing of Toydarian wings and Din spoke to him in Huttese, "De wanna wanga, Watto."

The Toydarian spun around in the air and said with the tone of one who made falsely cheery greetings regularly, "Maandoo, how are you, mi bookie!"

"Good, Watto. I'm looking for someone."

Watto gave a hearty laugh and said to Ter'a, "Always straight to business with this one, eh?"

She smiled sweetly at him but said nothing.

Watto looked back to Din and said, "It's been a while, eh, since I saw you last. Too long…. Coona tee-tocky malia?"

"Been busy," said Din cocking his head.

"What's in the container, eh?" Watto asked, looking at the child's pod, which was currently closed.

"Supplies." He said it in such a way that Watto didn't ask anymore questions.

"So, then, eh… hi chuba du naga?"

"I need to find a slicer who can help me with a degraded and encrypted data file."

"Information, eh?" sniggered Watto… "You know it'll cost you…" he said to Din patting him on the shoulder in what he obviously thought was a fatherly sort of way.

But Din was ready. Ter'a watched him flip some credits into the air which Watto caught unceremoniously, and said, "Man-tah."

"You want Torno. Bothan. In the cantina during "business hours". He'll give you what you need." Watto gave Ter'a and Din an unpleasant smile and added, "For a price…"

"Thanks, me jewz ju, Watto," said Din, turning away without a backward glance.

Ter'a followed Din back up the alley while Watto yelled after them, trying different ways of attempting to get more money.

"How do you know him?" Ter'a asked, thinking of their conversation in mixed Huttese and Galactic Basic.

"Watto always had an ear to the ground. He's been around for decades and always knows who's who around Mos Eisley…. Good type of person for a bounty hunter to know in a place like this…"

They walked into the Mos Eisley Cantina and were greeted with the rhythmic stylings of the Modal Nodes, a band that had played the cantina for decades. Ter'a nudged Din in the ribs as they looked for their man and pointed him out in the far corner of the cantina behind the bar. He nodded and she followed him over.

Din motioned her to sit down in the booth, and he scooted in after her.

"Pateesa," he said in Huttese to the Bothan called Torno.

Torno nodded but didn't speak.

"Do you speak Galactic Basic?" Din asked. "I'm not completely fluent in either Huttese or Bothese…"

"Aye."

Din nodded. "This is my partner, Takara," he gestured to Ter'a, using the same alias he'd given Ao on Coruscant. She nodded curtly. "We found a data file, that might be relevant to a bounty we're hunting. But the file's degraded and encrypted. We heard that you were the best slicer in Mos Eisley to help us out."

Torno gestured at Din who glanced at Ter'a and held out his hand. She reached in her pack and pulled out the data file and handed it to Din, who held it out for Torno. He took it and turned it over in his hands before saying, "Where did it come from?"

Din cocked his head. "I'm sure you understand the need for discretion in our line of work," he said gesturing at himself and Ter'a.

The Bothan nodded but said, "I will do it, but for a higher fee since you won't tell me where it comes from. This information could be anything… from anywhere"

"Fine. When can you start?"

"Pay for my drink, and we will go to my workshop and I'll get started."

Din slid obligingly out of the booth and went to pay Torno's tab while Ter'a and the alien got up and waited. He asked her, "Is your friend always so discreet?"

She looked at him, "Mando is the best bounty hunter in the sector. There's a reason for that."

Torno peered at her and nodded his understanding.

As Din rejoined them, she asked, "How far is your workshop from here?"

"About a fifteen-minute walk from here," he replied.

They all walked out into the suns and followed Torno up the street and around the corner. As they walked, Tatooine's twin suns became obscured with tan clouds, the wind started to pick up, and the sand whipped mercilessly at Ter'a's face. Torno turned to them and said loudly over the wind, "There is a sandstorm coming!" She held her hands up to protect her eyes, but now the sand just bit painfully at the sensitive skin of her injured hands. Ahead of her, Din stopped and took off his cloak, then turned around and wrapped it around her head like a scarf. When they started walking again, he stayed next to her and held his hand up to block the sand from going into her eyes and guided her forward. Torno turned to them again and yelled through the wind, "We must hurry!" They all broke into a run and ran the last three blocks to Torno's shop. When he'd closed the door behind them, he ran to shutter the windows as sand came swirling into the room like angry, tan snow. Din helped him so that Ter'a could find some relief against the sand and wind.

Finally, when the building was secure, Torno said, "The storm will last several hours… you will have to stay here until it is over."

"We want to get back to the ship as soon as possible," Ter'a returned.

"We won't be able to get back to the spaceport in this," Din told her. "It's too dangerous for you. And even if we could get back, we won't be able to take off…"

"The sands will strip your skin, and clog your ships engines," added Torno, nodding. "I have a guest room upstairs for clients. Sometimes, jobs take some time and I'm not sure how much time it will take to crack your file and decrypt it. Plus, you said it's degraded. That'll cost extra... and take a little more time."

Din nodded. "Whatever you need to do."

Nodding, Torno motioned them to follow him. As he led them to the guest room he said, "This bounty must be valuable…"

Din nodded at him but said nothing.

They arrived at the room and Torno opened the door and motioned them inside, "I'll get started right away and let you know if I need anything. If you need food, I keep snacks and water in the guest room. Help yourself."

Din nodded, thanked the Bothan, and closed the door. The room was plain but Torno had styled and outfitted it like a hotel room for his clients, likely so that they wouldn't breath over his shoulder while he worked. Bothans were known for the pride they take in their work, so Torno was obviously trying to make himself known as the best, most hospitable slicer in the Outer Rim territories.

Ter'a watched Din as he checked the windows for sand leaks and said, "You're going to leave him alone down there with the file?"

"He's not going anywhere with it… like us, he can't leave the house until the storm passes."

"I know, but what if he makes copies of anything he finds?"

Din unlocked and opened the child's pod and walked up to her, "I don't think he'll see anything damning in there… it should just be species information… Plus, he's not gunna get the chance to use it…"

"You mean to kill him?"

"You know we have to. He's got to read that file to see what can be recovered. He'll know too much… If Gideon picks up our trail, he'll come here, and Torno will be able to tell him what he knows about a little green species with big ears that's long lived. And maybe, if we're really lucky, what planet they originate from…"

She nodded. She hated senseless killing, but he was right. Just like he was about the Chiss. They couldn't leave a trail and they couldn't get sloppy.

Din reached up and unwrapped his cloak from her head and stepped back to take a look at her.

"Your hair's all sandy," he said. She cocked her head. He sounded… playful?

She smiled and shook her head vigorously. Sand flew form her hair in all directions and he laughed quietly.

"Let me see your hands."

"They're alright," she held them up. "They feel a little raw after the sand, but they're okay."

He looked at them for a moment and said, I'm going to see if Torno has some bacta gel for you. He released her hands and left her alone in the room with the child.

Din closed the door behind him. He headed down the stairs to see Torno and smiled to himself. He poked fun at the sand in her hair and they laughed about it a little. It was such a silly moment, but also a tender one. He wanted to lighten the mood after discussing their plans to kill Torno after he'd finished the data recovery. He knew that she didn't want anyone to die unnecessarily. It must be a Jedi principle… For now, he intended to get more bacta to soothe her hands and get the opportunity to touch her again.

Torno gave him plenty of bacta after warning him that it would cost extra. Din rolled his eyes but said, "No problem."

Now, he was heading back upstairs to Ter'a and the kid.

He opened the door and saw her sitting on the floor with him and was trying to show him Jedi meditation. He periodically floated for a few seconds before falling, laughing, into her waiting arms. He watched them from the door until the kid got so tired that he passed out.

Sighing, Ter'a picked him up and laid him in his pod.

"What?" she asked looking suspiciously at him.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "It's just… I think that it's amazing how you can do that."

She smiled at him and he walked toward her holding up a tube of bacta gel. "Sit on the couch and hold out your hands."

She did as he asked, and he kneeled down in front of her and pulled his gloves off, setting them on the table next to the couch. He opened the tube and squeezed some onto his fingers and began to gently spread it on her dry, bruised hands.

She hissed and said, "It stings…"

"The sand and sun really dried your skin out." He smiled and said, "I guess you're not really built to live in a dry climate."

"Well, this planet's awful," she laughed.

"I know," he agreed with a nod.

They laughed quietly for a moment and then she became very quiet. The only sounds were the sand whipping threateningly on the outside walls of the house. He switched hands and began to rub her left. She remained very quiet. He looked at her hand as he rubbed it, but his mind was strangely blank. They seemed to have lapsed into a far-away moment. Then she said, "Stop."

She said it very softly. Almost like it just slipped out rather than that she had actually intended to say it. He looked up at her. She had a very interesting look on her face. It was like a cross between nervousness and indecisiveness. "Did I hurt you?" he released her suddenly looking at her hand then back at her face. She shook her head as she got up and went to her pack. After a moment of searching she found what she was looking for and came back to her seat on the couch. He saw she had something in her hands that she was twisting nervously but he couldn't tell what it was.

He looked at her. She had the same peculiar look on her face, but it was more pronounced now.

She looked down at the thing in her hands and opened her mouth to speak. "I…" she struggled to find the words…  
"I… want to… try… something." She spoke very slowly to her hands as though she was afraid to talk to him.

"What? What's on your mind?" He put his hand on her knee to try and comfort her. But she was more nervous now.

She looked down with a very chaste look and made the thing in her hands more visible now. "I got this at that street vendor on Coruscant. I… thought… maybe…" she trailed off, still not looking at him. His brow furrowed. It was a sleep mask. What on Tatooine did she want "to try" with that? He was slow on the uptake as he looked at it.

She whispered in a tiny voice, "But only if you want to…" and still, she wouldn't look at him.

She'd spoken so softly that he wasn't sure he heard her correctly. If he wanted to what…?

Then, like he'd been punched by a Wookiee, he was hit with a sudden understanding.

She wanted him to kiss her.

A balloon swelled in his chest. She'd bought this mask on Coruscant days ago. She'd though about this days ago. He took the mask carefully out of her hands and she finally looked anxiously at him. He looked up at her and saw that her cheeks were flushed a deep red. She was embarrassed. He smiled to try and make her feel less so, but of course, she couldn't see it, so instead he looked down at the mask and held it delicately in his fingers, looking at it for just a second. And in that second, he came to a decision.

Looking back up at her, he reached up with both hands and slipped the mask over her head, then carefully down over her eyes. As he put it on, she sat very still, cheeks still flushed. Once he had the mask in place, he pulled his helmet off and set it next to her on the couch before putting his hands on her knees and looked at her, smiling. She looked adorable sitting there with the mask on and her cheeks flushed. "Why are you so embarrassed?" he asked her.

She moved her head. "I just… I wasn't sure… if you'd…"

He finished for her, "You weren't sure if I'd want to kiss a strong, beautiful Jedi?

She blushed an even deeper shade and smiled. "No … _yes_… … I just… you'd have to take your helmet off. I… I won't be the one to push you in a direction that makes you uncomfortable…"

He sat up on his knees and leaned close to her and whispered, "I took it off when we went to sleep last night."

She couldn't see so she jumped a little when he touched her elbow and ran his fingers gently down her arm, which he saw leave a trail of goosebumps that traveled up her arm and down the other arm.

"I know," she smiled.

He moved his hand to her neck. Her skin was so soft, and when he ran a solitary finger from her ear lobe to the crook of her neck, he smiled to see another trail of goosebumps, and her breathing became slightly shaky.

Not wanting to be too teasing, he stopped. He was enamored by her body's reactions to his touches, but he was bound to get carried away at some point. So, now he cradled her face in his hands and ran his thumbs across her cheek bones as he leaned towards her. Her lips were parted in anticipation as she awaited what came next. He smiled slightly before closing the distance between them and placing his lips against hers firmly but very gently, in as chaste a way as he could.

The effect however, was instantaneous. For the blink of an eye, she was tense, not sure when to expect him. But then she melted against him. Her body felt like it had gone limp. Smiling at the effect, he pulled away just enough so that their noses still touched, and he breathed, "Are you okay?"

She said nothing, but merely nodded vaguely and smiled dreamily. He kissed her again. This time with a little more purpose, opening his mouth a little wider. She slid her hands up and around his neck so that he felt encouraged. He kept going now, with her egging him on by teasing his upper lip with the tip of her tongue or nipping playfully at his bottom lip.

They kissed more and more intensely so that their lips became swollen and red. He sought out her tongue with his own and she met him enthusiastically.

Then, their hands began to explore too. She tangled her hands in his soft, brown, curly hair, feeling its softness before moving them both down his neck and pushing them under the neck of his tunic to grasp at his bare shoulders. The fingers on his left hand tangled in the roots of her hair, while the fingers of his right slid down her neck, down her sternum before coming to rest with his whole hand flat against her belly near her belt.

Then both hands ran up over her shoulders and his fingertips sent jolts of electricity down her back and throughout her body, while her nails raked down the front of his armor chest plate. He wished vaguely that he wasn't wearing it at the moment, but when she broke the kiss to pepper small kisses and gentle nips along his jawline, he lost all coherent thought and tilted his head back with a shaky exhale.

The feeling of her lips on his neck drove him wild and in a moment of passion he seized her around the middle and threw her backward on the couch, causing his helmet to fall to the floor. He pushed her tunic up so that her midsection was exposed, and he covered it with kisses, before starting to work the tunic up higher on her chest. With a sigh, she twisted her fingers in his hair, tilted her head back and let out a breathy sigh which made him growl with passion. He was just beginning to stand up so that he could cover her body with his own when…

A knock at the door broke their kiss like a permasteel rod snapping in half. They broke apart, both breathing heavily and with swollen lips.

"Yes?" Din growled, aggravated in his current state of passion.

"I'm finished," came Torno's voice.

"Already?" Din looked down at Ter'a whose head was tilted up toward the door. "I thought you said it was going to take a while?"

"It's been three hours. The file was small…"

"Okay, we'll be out in a moment," called Din rolling his eyes.

As the Bothan's footsteps disappeared back downstairs, Din turned back to Ter'a, sighed, and rested his forehead against hers. Still breathing heavily, he wanted literally nothing else in the galaxy to explore her body more thoroughly right now… perhaps without so much clothing on… but they had pressing, important matters to see to. He finished the way he started, by cupping her face gently and pressing a soft kiss to her lips before pulling her tunic back down and pulling her back to a seated position. He stepped away, picked his helmet up off the floor and shoved it grudgingly back onto his head.

Then he reached down and gently pulled the sleeping mask off Ter'a's head. She looked glorious. He knelt in front of her to get a closer look. She, like him, was still out of breath. Her eyes were dilated with the same passion he felt, she had a distinct, dazzling flush that started high on her cheeks and continued to her over-pink and swollen lips, and her hair was a little frizzier where his fingers had been tangled in it. But what struck him most of all, was the look in her eyes. She had not wanted to stop any more than he had. She looked wild and innocent but powerful and delicate all at the same time and he was here for it.

They sat in silence for a moment, catching their breath, looking at nothing but each other.

As they finally made their way downstairs with kid's pod closed and in tow, Din looked sideways at her and said wryly, "That sleep mask was an amazing purchase."

She smiled back at him as she tucked it carefully back into her pack.


	12. Chapter 12 - The First Encounter

**Chapter 12 – The First Encounter**

Din and Ter'a entered Torno's workshop and he said, "Over here… have a seat." The Bothan pushed out two chairs for them in front of a computer console.

"Were you able to get any info off the file?" Ter'a asked anxiously. She'd had her doubts that anything of real value was salvageable, but she was trying to stay positive.

"Some, yes," said Torno as they seated themselves opposite him. "Now, not everything that you saved was salvageable, though…" he said quickly as she lit up slightly.

"What did you find?" Din asked impatiently.

"I got Kashyyyk. Apparently, there is something relevant on the Wookiee planet. And the age range of a species that I couldn't get the name of." Ter'a sighed disappointedly.

"Which is?" Din asked.

Torno looked quite impressed as he said evenly, "As many 900 years…"

Din sat back in his seat, but Ter'a leaned forward with her eyes wide, "Are you sure?"

Torno looked at her sharply, "Of course, I'm sure. Do you think I found _incorrect_ information?"

"Not at all," she said quickly. "It's just that… 900 years… that's… that's a _long_ time."

"Very," nodded the Bothan, placated.

"So," said Din bringing the conversation back around, "Kashyyyk and 900 years? Is that it? That's all my credits bought?"

Smugly, Torno turned to look at Din and said, "From the _degraded_ data… yes."

Din sat forward again and said, "So. What else?"

Ter'a could tell he was beginning to get anxious.

Torno paused, relishing the moment. He had a juicy factoid that he was about to share, and he was building the tension annoyingly… But Din was growing impatient, "What is it!"

"The species," he began, "Is either very small in population, or rarely seen off their homeworld. But," he continued about to drop the bomb, "what is known, is that the species most well-known, prominent members were Jedi, and most were gifted in the use of the Force."

The room fell silent. Ter'a was outwardly projecting a look of mild surprise, and inwardly a thrill of fear. She knew now with all certainty that Torno had just signed his death warrant. Kashyyyk and 900 years weren't much of a lead, but they were more than nothing and would have meant very little to a backwater Bothan slicer. But with the revelation of the Jedi, he was doomed.

Ter'a looked at Din. He appeared unfazed by the comment, but she knew he had to be thinking along the same lines.

She thought quickly for a moment. How many people still knew about the Force anyway? Din hadn't and he was extremely smart and well-traveled… she thought if he didn't, many others wouldn't either. The problem with Torno was that he seemed to be acutely aware. But in an effort at nonchalance she said, "The… Force? What exactly is that?"

Din made a subtle motion that she only _just_ noticed. Suddenly, everything was very tense.

"I would have thought you knew about the Force," said the Bothan smoothly. "After all, how many bounty hunters carry a _lightsaber_ around?"

Din pulled out his blaster and jumped to his feet in a single, fluid motion. Ter'a stared at Torno in shock. "Wh-what?" She tried to play dumb again, but it came out more as surprise at his guess.

"Do you two think I'm a fool?" Torno looked only at Din now with his hands slightly raised, who was holding him at gunpoint.

"How long have you known?" he asked Torno.

"Since the cantina. There are still some who know a lightsaber when they see one."

"Did you transmit the data to anyone?"

"Just one."

"Who!" Din demanded. Ter'a jumped. It was the first time she saw him panic.

"The honorable Moff Gideon. He sent word around the Outer Rim territories that a Mandalorian and a human woman might come looking for refuge, information, help, or some other type of aid. Said he'd pay handsomely to anyone with information."

The blaster rang loudly in the workshop and Torno fell to the floor dead.

Din dropped the blaster on the counter and sat down with his helmet in his hands. "He knows," he said softly. "he knows about Kashyyyk. We can't go there now… it'll put us and all the Wookiees on Kashyyyk in danger."

"We have to do something," Ter'a said putting her hand on his.

He took a deep breath, and she knew he was trying to figure out a work around. He got up and went to the computer console and opened Torno's mail.

"He did it," Din confirmed hopelessly. "Here's the mail. Gideon even responded back too." He looked up at Ter'a. "He's gunna be waiting for us at the ship after the storm passes."

"We'll fight them."

Din tapped on the counter for a moment then said, "No… no we're going to head back to the ship now. Wait inside and as soon as the storm passes, we'll take off. We'll have a better chance in space than here… he's bound to bring a platoon… or more… like Nevarro."

Din stood and deleted the entire contents of the Bothans computer and said, "Come on, let's get you ready."

Ter'a looked at him uncertain. "You _literally_ told me that I can't go out there. I don't have armor like you."

"I know, we have to find some stuff around here to cover up your skin…" he looked around and quickly found a pair of mechanics googles and gloves. He stepped close to her put the googles on her and helped her slip her tender hands into the gloves. He looked her up and down to check for other exposed skin before removing his cloak again and wrapping it tightly around her head and neck.

"There. I think that's as good as we're going to get at the moment. You'll get sand all in your clothes by the time we get there, but you shouldn't get hurt now."

Still unsure about her makeshift attire compared to his armor, Ter'a nodded apprehensively and she stepped up to the door with the child's sleep pod close behind. But before he opened the door, Din turned to her and pulled her into his arms and said, "Whatever happens, we have to get to the ship. When we get into space, we'll make the first jump we can get coordinates for."

She nodded against his chest, "To the ship. First jump coordinates."

He released her and opened the door.

As soon as Din opened the door, he wanted to close it again. Everything out there was so harsh and unpleasant, while everything in here was nice and quiet. They looked out at the sand lashing furiously at everything it touched. It looked like a tan fog had settled on Mos Eisley. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't worried about Ter'a's jury-rigged sandstorm protection. If her skin became exposed, even for a second, it would cause painful, sandy, rash-like wounds. He'd keep her close to him at all times to make sure that her soft skin stayed protected and he didn't know what Jedi powers could protect her from a sandstorm. He gestured her out first and he saw her clothes whip up instantly in the high winds.

He followed her out and they made painfully slow progress up the street back towards the spaceport. They ducked in and out of every crevice they could take shelter in. Often times it was only large enough for her to stand in and so he'd stand in front of her and block as much sand as possible and they'd secure any parts of her outfit that had come loose in the wind. Once, his cloak nearly flew off and her neck was exposed for about fifteen seconds before he could cover her back up and she'd been left with what looked like a painful patch of road rash on the right side of her neck.

Finally though, after about an hour into what would normally have been a fifteen minute walk, they entered the spaceport through a side door into a passage that was clearly seldom used and for the moment, empty.

After the howling of the storm outside, the deserted spaceport seemed suspiciously quiet. They hurried through the passages to the ship and saw from the entrance that the area was quite empty. Din stepped out and took a few paces towards the ship and a shot rang out. Ter'a felt horrified as she watched him fall. But she realized that he'd only been grazed. The blaster bolt had skimmed across the outside of his right thigh a few inches above the knee. She winced though for the pain that he must've felt from the heat and contact of the shot. She watched as eight troopers stepped out of the seemingly empty shadows with their blasters trained on Din. Then a voice from behind the Crest said, "Din Djarin."

Moff Gideon stepped out of the shadows looking extremely pleased with himself as he looked at Din who had gotten rather shakily to his feet. "You know why I'm here. Give me the child, and I _might_ let you live." He paused before adding bitterly. "Despite the damage you did on Nevarro…"

"We both know you aren't letting me off this planet," said Din. Ter'a heard the pain in his voice.

Ter'a knew what she had to do. Gideon was definitely going to kill Din if she didn't intervene. She dug deep inside herself and channeled the Force. She'd need the speed and agility from the light side, and the dark side would enable her to channel the pain from the sand wound on her neck, which was bloody and full of grains of sand which scratched like shards of glass and snagged on the fabric touching it. She pulled her lightsaber off her belt, Din's cloak off her head, and stepped out of the shadows.

Din hit the ground and the pain in his leg was considerable, but not unbearable. More than anything he was trying to figure out how eight stormtroopers and the Moff had gotten here. The only way he could think of was the same way they had. On foot. They were quite as sandy as he and Ter'a were… They'd had to have landed outside the storm and walked in. If that was the case, the storm was very likely to be over soon. He if could just get to the ship with Ter'a, he could lock it down and they'd be safe inside it…

Another worry suddenly struck him. Ter'a. His eyes widened and he hoped to Mandalore that she had the sense to stay hidden. But as soon as the thought passed through his brain, the sound of her lightsaber igniting to his right made his heart sink. Now Gideon would know about her too. He looked up to see her coming out of the shadows with her blade in her hand and a look of fury on her face. As he watched her spring into action, time seemed to slow. The blue glow of her saber attracted all of their enemies to her like bugs to a lamp. He watched her raise the saber in slow motion and then all hell broke loose as she brought it down.

As she battled the troopers, sending blaster bolts back towards their owners with her saber, stopping them in midair, and jumping around so often, that she was virtually untouchable. He inched towards the ship as he told himself to go to it, power it up, and hide the child. As Din watched the action, saw her full power and now he understood what she meant when she said she had to channel the dark side carefully and not to let too much out.

After only about sixty seconds, which felt like sixty minutes, all of the troopers were dead, and she stood facing Gideon. He watched her with just as much interest as Din had. Indeed, he didn't say a word when she slaughtered the troopers. Din looked left at Gideon and right at Ter'a. She still had a look of fury on her face that seemed to belong to another person. Din edged to the Crest's ramp and hit the button to lower it and Gideon spoke to him but didn't take his eyes off Ter'a.

"Din. You never told me about the interesting company you keep. This young woman will make a fine specimen in my lab. If you let me take her, you'll never see me again." He paused and then finished, "I'll even let you keep the child."

Din scoffed. Firstly, he'd die before he let Gideon take Ter'a and use her for twisted Imperial research on Force sensitives. Secondly, he'd like to see Ter'a _allow_ Gideon to try and take her. Glancing at her, it was clear that she'd die before that happened. He also knew that she'd die before she let Gideon touch him or the child.

"If you think that she'll let you touch her, or that I'll let you touch her, you're dumber than I thought," said Din antagonizing him. "Plus, you're outnumbered two to one." He pulled out his blaster and vibroblade.

Gideon saw this caveat as well because he said, "Perhaps, we can finish this amiably on Kashyyyk?"

But before Din could say anything, Ter'a took a step closer to him and simply said, "No." But this was an echoing 'No'. She said a thousand words with one. With one word, she was saying that Gideon was in danger. That he was treading on thin ice. That she'd kill him if she ever saw him again. That he wouldn't touch anyone.

In the tense silence, Din backed up the ramp with the kid's pod, still looking back and forth. He turned and ran as fast as his injured leg would allow up the ladder and started the ship's systems. While he waited for everything to power on, he entered coordinates for a planet he knew was close by: Corellia. He ran back down to the ramp. Gideon was talking to Ter'a. He was trying to tell her how she could help the Empire and how they would reward her. He furrowed his brow when he noticed that she'd switched her lightsaber off.

"Come with me child," Gideon said. "I can pay you far more than this simple bounty hunter. Offer you far more."

For a moment, a split second, Din thought he had swayed her. But when she spoke, he knew Ter'a had zero intentions of helping Gideon and that he had made a terrible enemy.

"I know the only things you will offer me is a lifetime of scientific servitude and pain," she spat. She was radiating power that was even palpable to Din. The Dark side.

Understanding that he wouldn't sway her position, Gideon took out his own weapon. A lightsaber hilt, and ignited it. And so, Din saw the Darksaber for the first time. It looked amazing. A long-hilted saber with a black blade that had a white aura. It _was _real! He knew from Ter'a's dream that that blade had belonged to the first Mandalorian Jedi Knight, Tarre Vizla. And he knew that it belonged back with the tribe.

Ter'a took this action as a personal threat and attacked him, full of rage. It became clear to Din within seconds that Gideon had no strength in the Force, but that he was trained in saber combat. They battled for a few moments before Ter'a disarmed him and sent the Darksaber flying by means of slicing Gideon across the chest as his armor melted from its plasma blade. Gideon fell backward with a grunt of pain but sat up almost immediately. It seemed that she'd only wounded him slightly. The Darksaber landed several meters away, switched off, near the hangar entrance.

Suddenly, as she moved in for a killing blow, a blaster bolt hit the wall above her head. Din and Ter'a spun to see what looked like a platoon of stormtroopers beginning to file into the hangar.

"Run!" Din yelled at her.

Her face cleared of the dark side influence and she ran, dodging bolts, stopping a few in their tracks, and deflecting still others back at whomever fired them with her saber. She ran up the ramp past Din and up to the cockpit as he closed the ramp and locked the ship down. She turned on the deflector shield and hit the boosters to get the ship into the air. By the time the ship broke out into the now clear light of the twin suns Din had joined her in the cockpit. He was pleased and surprised to see that the sandstorm was conveniently gone. Ter'a got up and let him fly them out of Tatooine's atmosphere and into space. He maneuvered them into the hyperlane to Corellia and threw the switch to engage the hyperdrive.

Ter'a's body squished back into the copilot seat as the ship entered hyperspace. She was shaking her head, trying to clear it of any remnants of the darkness that consumed her during the fight in the spaceport. She had been so furious when Gideon had shot Din. She closed her eyes and began to meditate in the copilot's seat to clear her headspace and come back to herself completely. After a few minutes she felt free and clear of her rage and the dark side and slowly opened her eyes.

Din had turned and was watching at her, looking concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked her as soon as she looked at him.

She smiled. "I'm fine. I just had to meditate to center myself in the light again." Then she frowned, remembering that Din had been wounded. She unstrapped herself and slid down onto the floor to get a closer look at his wound. "Does it hurt?" she asked him, looking concerned.

He looked down at his leg. And said, "Not too bad…" But she wasn't convinced by the barely there strain in his voice.

She grabbed his hand and said, "We need to get a bandage on this," and pulled him to his feet.

Her hands were still sore, but his generous applications of bacta gel had really worked wonders. This was particularly fortunate now, since it was his turn for some medical care.

They went down the ladder and she led him to the bed and had him sit down while she retrieved the medical bag and washed her hands.

"It's really not too bad," he insisted as she kneeled on the deck in front of him. But she knew he wasn't used to having someone help him with an injury.

"I know," she began, "but it still needs to be tended to. Plus, I know you're in pain…"

He cocked his head at her in questioning. She looked at him and rolled her eyes and smiled. "I can hear it in your voice. _And…_" she added offhandedly, "I can feel your pain through the Force."

"Of course you can," he rolled his eyes in return. She delicately peeled the burned and melted fabric of his trousers off the edges of the wound and he hissed. "Ah, careful…"

With her face close to the wound she said, "I am. But there's melted fabric here… I have to get it out."

For about ten minutes he watched quietly with his teeth gritted as she cleaned the wound. She was pleased that he only made noises of discomfort a couple more times, and they were due to the removal of the melted fabric that had hardened and stuck to his torn skin.

After she cleaned the wound, she examined it again. "It's not too bad. But you'll have a small scar."

He shrugged, "I don't care about that."

She smiled and pulled out the tube of bacta gel that he'd used on her before and put some on her fingers and spread it gently over his wound and merely dabbed it onto the more sensitive and damaged area. He winced slightly, but she could sense his immediate feelings of relief.

After the bacta, she placed a fresh bandage on the wound, closed the bag and made to go put it away, but Din grabbed her hand and said, "Wait."

She turned. "What?"

He pulled her back and said, "It's your turn. I want to look at your neck." Her hand flew up to her neck and she hissed in pain. She'd forgotten about the lacerations the sandstorm had left behind there. And suddenly she was very aware that she was covered in sand. She looked down and everything she was wearing was permeated with it. The greys and blacks of her clothes were mottled with the tan of the sand. Even her movements suddenly felt gritty due to the sand that settled itself between her clothes and her skin. "Maybe I can shower first?" She requested. He took a breath and said, "It'll only take a moment. And I want to make sure it gets properly cleaned."

She nodded in consent and he motioned her to sit next to him on the edge of the bed. He took off his gloves and got up to wash his hands before returning to her. He gently tilted her head with one hand and pulled the neck of her tunic down slightly with the other so that he could see the wound properly. "It's not bad, but it's very irritated."

He tucked her tunic under itself so that it would stay out of the way and dove into the medical bag. First, he pulled out an alcohol wipe to disinfect it and try to get out most of the sand. "This is gunna burn like hell…"

She nodded. Despite the warning, she still gasped and squeezed her eyes shut as the alcohol bit at her injury. After he finished with the alcohol her shoulders relaxed but her skin still stung. "Did all the sand come out?" she asked him. He leaned in to get a closer look. "Mmm… not quite. I guess you _do _need to shower…" She smiled sarcastically at him and got up to head to the shower. "After I come out will you put on the bandage?"

He stood and nodded. She turned and went to the head and closed the door.

His head didn't have an ion cleaner in it so there was no way for her to clean her clothes at the same time as she showered. She supposed that she could wash them out in the shower, but they'd need time to dry. So, she went back out to grab one of her three sets of spare clothes and looked around. It appeared that he had taken the child and went up to the cockpit.

She went back to the head and turned on the shower. She was glad of this time to be alone. She wanted to think about what had happened in Torno's guest room… She took off her clothes and stepped into the shower with them in her hands. The water ran over her and the clothes. It was incredibly warm and comfortable. As she held each piece of clothing up to the water and scrubbed it out with her hands and the soap, she thought about the last several hours. It seemed that every time they were planet-side together, something dangerous had to happen.

She also wasn't surprised that Torno betrayed them in the end, but she _was _surprised how quickly Gideon came for them. He really wanted the child. And now, he knew about her and her abilities too… He seemed quite as fascinated with watching her in action as Din had been. But whereas, Din watched her with alluring charm and admiration, Gideon, watched predatorially and with thinly veiled mania and greediness.

Still, they escaped. Din had been injured, but not seriously. Now they needed to hide for a brief time while they regrouped and thought about how they'd get to Kashyyyk while under Gideon's radar.

There had also been their moment in the room she wanted to consider. He had been so tender with her. Rubbing the bacta gel on her hands the first time on the ship had felt so nice, and it had given her thoughts and ideas that she'd never had about a man before. Of course, she thought about these things only vaguely when she decided to purchase the sleeping mask. Mostly she'd gotten it for the purpose of wearing it so he could take his helmet off when they were doing things together like eating and sleeping in the same room. However, it came in _very_ handy when he was rubbing the bacta on her at Torno's. She'd gotten the same feeling as before… a desire. A need… somewhere in the lower regions of her stomach. Then a light had gone off in her mind, but oh, was she nervous. Thinking back on it as she scrubbed sand and shampoo out of her scalp, she thought she was absolutely crazy to suggest it.

But he was perfectly willing. She sensed his feelings. She knew he wouldn't object. The issue was that she meant to keep her promise and not coax him into something he would regret. But she'd reasoned that he took his helmet off of his own accord when they slept together after her nightmare. That, and only that, is what gave her the courage to ask him at all.

It had felt so nice… when, after teasing her some, he had pressed his lips to hers. It felt magical. His lips against hers had sent jolts of pleasure throughout her body. Then when he took it a step further, her body began to respond to his of its own accord and she had met his energy with her own. When she broke the kiss and began to kiss and nip along his jawline, she remembered with a smile how feral he seemed to become. He'd grabbed her bodily and tossed her backward on the couch. Though violent it might have seemed, she loved it. And when he pushed up her top to freckle her skin with kisses, a distinct ache rang out from below her waistline and spread throughout her whole body like an earthquake and her eyes rolled back and she let out a gasp of air.

She blinked several times and took a deep breath. She was feeling very aroused. She wanted Din in here… she smiled at the thought, but this tiny shower barely fit her let alone the both of them. Still, despite herself and her desire to control her urges, her hand drifted down below her waist and she massaged herself for a few moments, and forced herself to keep quiet. Soon she had to lean against the shower wall to catch her breath and let her body relax.

After she'd calmed back down, she set about finishing her shower and making sure all the sand had been removed from her clothes.

Din sat in the cockpit with the kid on his lap. He'd come up here after she went to the head so that she could have some privacy. There wasn't much room in the head, so she'd need to come out in order to dress.

The kid was sitting contentedly on his lap playing with the control knob. Since Ter'a had showed him the levitation trick, he spent many idle hours replicating it and it never seemed to get old for him. Even Din liked to see them both do Force tricks. It was fascinating to see someone move something using only their mind… he remembered his shock at seeing the mudhorn levitate back on Arvala-7. And he was still impressed that the kid had been able to do it.

Sighing, he looked out the viewport. Hyperspace whirled past the ship, though it looked like they were shooting through some sort of fiberoptic tube. His eyes glazed over as they usually did when he watched hyperspace zoom by outside the ship, and his mind wandered. This time, it went back in the other direction to Tatooine. He thought idly on the events on that planet. He'd gotten shot. That hurt. And he rubbed his leg absently in response. Ter'a killed a bunch of stormtroopers and Gideon found out about her. Din shook his head and sighed deeply. He was troubled now that Gideon found out about Ter'a and her abilities. He frowned deeply. He knew Gideon would want to exploit her power and when he saw Gideon's reaction to it confirmed his suspicions and greatly disturbed him. He had looked at her with a great hunger… like a beast of prey who had found a particularly delicious morsel that it would not stop hunting until he had destroyed it and devoured every last crumb.

Din was filled with a sudden and consuming fear for Ter'a. This was followed by an equally sudden and consuming knowledge that he wouldn't let Gideon touch her. His hate for the Moff and his men had grown tenfold in a matter of seconds.

With a deep breath, he sank back in the seat. The kid stopped played for a moment and looked up at him. He reached up with his tiny tridactyl hands and grabbed the edges of Din's helmet. For a long moment they looked at each other. The kid knew, somehow, that Din was anxious and he was able, somehow, to leach it out of him. Looking down at the kid, Din couldn't help but feel like everything would be okay in the end and so he gazed back out of the viewport with a small smile. He watched the kid climb out of his lap and struggle into his sleeper pod to take yet another nap.

Looking down at the console, his mind drifted to different things… His time in Torno's room with Ter'a for instance… He smiled as the thoughts and feelings that he'd felt then ghosted back across his mind and body briefly before floating away again. He liked what had happened between them and was quite keen to do it again. Perhaps after they'd both showered…?

Below decks, he heard the sound of her exiting the head. He wanted to go down there and see her, but he wanted to give her her privacy. So he waited.

Ter'a felt great. It was one of those showers that really leaves you feeling quite refreshed.

She dressed quickly and brushed and braided her hair before heading up to the cockpit.

"I feel so much better," she told him with a smile as he turned to greet her at the top of the ladder.

He nodded, "And your hands?"

She held them up happily. The bacta had worked wonders in such a short time. Her hands were no longer swollen and bruised, though they still carried a slightly yellow tinge that comes with healing bruises. The cuts on her knuckles had shrunken significantly and were scarring over slightly, and the staple he'd put in her hand was gone as she pulled it out after her shower.

He nodded his approval. "And your neck?"

She turned to let him see better. "I think I got all the sand out. And I put some bacta on it."

"Good girl," he said. And she caught a shiver from his words.

"Your turn," she smiled at him. "Go take a shower, you're even more filthy than I was."

He looked down at himself just as some sand leaked comically and unceremoniously from underneath his chest plate.

He held his hands out as though trying to figure out how he got so dirty, sighed and said, "Yeah, I guess so." He got up and headed down the ladder.

Ter'a looked at the child in his little bed. He had the control knob clutched in his tiny fist, and his eyes twitched slightly as he slept. With a chuckle, she sat herself in the captain's chair and checked the all the systems before gazing out of the viewport. For the next twenty minutes, until Din returned, she thought about nothing at all.


	13. Chapter 13 - First Encounters of a Whole

a/n – This is it! I hope you're ready for Din and Ter'a to make some sweet lemonade!

This took some time to write because I really wanted to get it right and not to sound too cheesy or too trashy, but be warned, it's pretty spicy. I hope it's not too much lol. If you like it, please review!

**Chapter 13 – First Encounters of a Whole Different Kind**

Din climbed out of the shower and felt clean and relaxed. He dressed in a clean tunic and trousers and began to put on his chest plate and the rest of his armor. As he was strapping on the last piece, he thought about Ter'a and whether or not he might need to get it all off again in a hurry. Shrugging, he figured that together, should things head in that direction, they'd be able to get it all off quickly enough.

He climbed the ladder again and found Ter'a dozing at the console with the kid in his container. She wasn't asleep all the way, but she was in and out. He could remember countless times sitting in the same chair and dozing in the same way. He smiled.

He came up behind her and put his hand on her back. She was leaning over the console with her head in her palm. When he touched her, she jerked awake and sat up to look over at him. "I'm sorry," she said standing up. "I was dozing off." She glanced at the kid and back at him. He reached up and brushed his thumb across her chin before he grasped her left arm and pulled her up and against him. She wrapped her arms around him readily and they gave each other a gentle squeeze. When he released her, she went down the ladder without a word, but she gave him a coy look.

For a moment, he stood frozen on the spot trying to decide if the look meant what he thought it might have meant. Throwing caution to the winds, he closed the kid's sleeping pod so that in the off chance that she _had _meant what he thought, they wouldn't be interrupted. With a determined calm, he proceeded down the ladder.

When he stepped off the ladder and turned around, she was had just stood up from fishing around in her pack and had something small, black, and familiar in her hands. Only this time, she looked a little more confident and a lot more excited. His body responded to her excitement with its own and he pulled his gloves back off and dropped them on the floor as he closed the gap between them.

He threaded his fingers gently into the roots of her hair again, and pulled her head back gently, exposing her neck. Then he stood close to her, chest to chest, and drew himself up to his full height so that he towered over her and ran his fingers across her neck and down her throat. He felt her shiver in his hands as her eyes fluttered shut, her lips parted, and a soft sigh escaped them. As he looked down at her, he thought that he'd never seen anyone so incredible. He released her and took the mask from her hand, which was hanging limp at her side. He slipped the mask up over her forehead and down over her eyes. She stood there, blind, waiting to see what he would do next since she couldn't see. He sensed that she wanted him to take the lead anyway, and he was more than willing to oblige.

He took his helmet off and walked to the mess table to set it down. When he turned to walk back to her, she was standing where he left her, in the middle of the room, but now she looked different. Smaller somehow, and more nervous. He assumed it was because she couldn't see what was going on. He came back towards her and paused. This time, his helmet was off, and he decided he was going to kiss her all over.

He smiled in a satisfied way that he was now unencumbered and could do so much more without his helmet. He thought about where he should start. He didn't want to go quickly at all. In fact, he wanted to take as much time as possible…to tease her and satisfy her, but all in good time. Plus, it had been _eons_ since he'd experienced this himself…

Slowly, so she wouldn't detect it, he moved towards her, but he stopped once he was close enough to her that she could feel his breath across her face. She smiled a soft and affectionate smile, and he smiled back. Then, he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her deeply and tenderly. Her hands flew up and grabbed his forearms and she leaned up on her tip toes in order to deepen the kiss.

After a moment he broke the kiss and looked at her again, tilting her chin up to get a good look at her. Her cheeks were gathering a very flattering flush, and her lips were already slightly more pink and swollen. He grazed across her lower lip with his thumb before following it with his tongue and kissing her again. They tasted each other before she captured his lower lip in between both of hers and sucked on it gently. The action set his body alight. He struggled to control himself as he backed her against the wall, gathered her hands above her head in one of his own against the wall and covered her mouth with his.

Her breathing quickened and she let out a gasp as he reached down and pulled her legs up to wrap around his waist. He smiled and, starting at her shoulders, ghosted his fingertips down her arms painfully slowly before traveling back up her stomach, over her breasts, and up to her neck all while he ghosted his lips across hers, teasing her. As his hands traveled over her hips and down her thighs, she let out a series of shaky sighs, which brought smiles to his face and encouraged him to keep going.

He grasped her buttocks firmly and backed away from the wall. She clung tightly to him as he turned around and carried her to his bed. Remembering how she liked it when he tossed her on Torno's couch, he carefully tossed her onto his bed, where she giggled when she bounced slightly making him smile again.

He put his knee up on the bed in between her knees and began to undo his armor. After each piece had dropped to the floor, he leaned down to kiss some part of her. Each time was a little different and she was loving it. After his chest plate, he gave her a peck on her knee, after his first shoulder piece, he pressed hard against her lips and their tongues danced for a moment. After the other shoulder, he held her face while he suckled sweetly on her neck. This time was great because he found the place on her neck that when touched made her body break out in goosebumps. And so it went, that after each piece fell, he found a progressively more passionate way to kiss her body. Too soon though, he was out of armor and stood before her in just his tunic, trousers, and boots.

He kneeled fully on the bed and leaned over her, grasping the hem of her tunic and pushing it up her body and yanking it over her head, exposing her firm stomach and her medium-sized breasts which hid like gifts to be unwrapped in a small black bra. Leaning back to toss her shirt aside he looked at her body as she lay there. There were so many places to kiss and not enough time in which to do it all.

He put his hands around the bare skin of her waist and she sucked in a sharp breath. Her skin felt wonderfully soft beneath his hands. He saw that she was struggling with both the urge to touch him and the urge not to. She seemed to be enjoying his teasing ministrations and her hands kept balling into fists and relaxing and she had to consciously keep herself from putting her hands all over him. His slow caresses were beginning to push her to the limits of her self-control, and he smiled at the thought that he was driving her so wild.

He released her, sat back on his knees and pulled off his own tunic and tossed it to the floor, revealing his strong arms and chiseled body. He leaned back over her with his hands on either side of her head and nuzzled his face in her neck and sucked and nipped at the sensitive flesh as their torsos pressed together. In her arousal, she could no longer keep her hands off him and they tangled in his curly hair and roamed across his chest, abs, and back. Against his lips he could feel the purring vibrations in her throat as she moaned and sighed at his actions. She spread her legs to give him more room to settle on top of her and drug her nails down his back and he felt the walls of his own self-control develop major structural cracks, and below his belt, he felt a growing discomfort as his erection strained against his trousers. He could feel that he was rock hard and knew that soon it couldn't be ignored.

Gathering both her hands in one of his again, he reached down between them with his free hand and undid her belt and unzipped her pants. Pushing back suddenly onto his knees, he felt himself beginning to shake slightly as his own arousal went unaddressed and attempted to dissipate by sending vibrations through his limbs as he breathed heavily. He knew that he had a flush to his face to match hers.

He gripped the waistband of her trousers and began tugging them down her hips and she raised up to help him. He realized that in his gathering haste, he was trying to tug her pants off over her boots, so he had to stop and pull off her boots and socks before pulling her trousers off the rest of the way.

Looking up her body to her face, he realized that it had been far too long since he felt her lips on his, and he fell over her and they kissed for a moment with a gathering need and ferocity before he pushed himself back up on his knees and began to undo his own belt, button, and zipper. As he worked, he stared down at her. She was so beautiful. She had long and slender, but strong legs and a pair of simple black underwear that matched her bra. Her hips tapered to a strong, muscled core and her perfect breasts rose and fell rapidly with her breathing, and her face had a beautiful flush. If he could see her eyes, he knew that they would be dilated and glazed over with passion and affection just like his.

Reaching back, he removed his boots and socks and stood just long enough to yank his pants off, so that like her, his was left with nothing but his underwear.

Wasting no time, he returned to his place between her legs, and hovered over her. He placed both hands on either side of her head and kissed her. He decided that he loved to kiss her. His tongue grazed her top lip and she whimpered as her body arched up against his involuntarily. Her hands grasped at his biceps as he lowered his head to plant kisses to the valley of her breasts.

He thought briefly about saying something to her, but he felt that, at the moment, his actions would speak louder than his words.

He snaked his arm underneath her and undid her bra, and then slid the straps down her arms and pulled the garment free of her body and threw it aside. He dove down immediately to capture one of her firm nipples in his mouth while a free hand massaged the other breast and teased her other nipple, switching back as forth so as to not neglect either one. Her perfect nipples were already hard, but he nipped at them and teased them with his tongue anyway. As he played, her head lolled, her eyelids fluttered, and her sighs grew more breathless.

She moaned and pulled at his hair as he continued to tease her body. She began to grind against him, and he knew she could feel his erection at her inner thigh. It seemed to egg her on.

Unable to ignore his own growing needs for much longer he turned them in the bed so that her head was on the pillow and he scooted back and began to pull her underwear off. He saw immediately that she was wet and dripping and he was ready to taste her, but instead, as he threw her last piece of clothing away, he ghosted tickles and kisses slowly up her legs starting at her ankles and then teasingly across her thigh from the outside to the inside. At last, he reached her sex and ran his tongue up the outside so lightly he barely felt her, but she made another squeaking gasp and twisted her hands in the bed sheet.

He began to play with her entrance with his tongue, using slowly increasing pressure until he invaded her with it. Reaching up, he slid his middle finger just barely inside her and began to pump it in and out while he suckled on her clitoris, licked at her moist lips, and teased her nipples with his free hand. She tasted sweet and earthy and he couldn't get enough of her and soon his own breathing became ragged. However, after all of his teasing of her body it took only a few moments before her back arched again, and she cried out.

Giving her a moment to catch her breath, he kissed her stomach and leaned back to pull off his boxers and finally allowing his cock to swing freely.

Leaning forward again to carefully place kisses up her body all the way to her lips, he smiled against her mouth as she breathlessly said, "Lay on your back."

He raised up to switch positions with her and he saw that her face was very flushed now, but delightfully so. As they switched places, they locked lips for a moment and then she pushed him down on the bed where she had just been. He bounced slightly, like she had done, and he let out a breath of laughter. She began to tease his body the way he'd done to her. His whole body was feeling painfully sensitive and aroused and each of her touches prickled and tingled and he enjoyed every second of it. He couldn't wait for the relief of an orgasm, but he also wanted to let her touch and kiss him forever while the tension built.

He was so hard, and she had been so arousing to watch and touch that his cock almost felt painful, but he was excited to see how she was going to do with him what he'd done with her. He wanted to come, but he also wanted to go slowly.

"You were so painfully slow…" she smiled, "I'm going to return the favor…"

He laughed affectionately at her words and said, "I hope so… I'm ready to beg for relief."

Smiling, she scooted down the bed to where his feet were and began, slowly and blindly, to drag her nails up his legs causing him to close his eyes and feel the shivers travel up his body. He knew that she was going to make him beg for it in the end, and it turned him on even more.

When she got to his upper thighs, she straddled him and did the same thing to his shoulders, leaning down and kissing his chest, neck, face, and everywhere else she could reach. She tangled her fingers in his hair, drug her nails down his chest and arms, and teased the area around his cock without touching it, making his hips rise-up from the mattress. She wouldn't touch him though. At one point, she ground her wet pussy against his erection, and he reached up and gripped her waist. But she just giggled and forced his hands back down to his sides. She continued for several minutes to kiss, touch, lick, and nip at every part of his body except where he was desperately needing it and he began to let out whines and whimpers like she had, begging for relief.

After several minutes of her tender touches, caresses, and grinding, she dismounted him and slid back on her knees and placed her hand on the front side of his hip just to the right of his erection. He looked painfully at her, begging her to touch him, finally. She slid her hand slowly toward his cock before she kissed the very tip of it and caused his mouth to fall open and release a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Then she ran her fingers up it to the tip and back down the other side and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Finally, after what seemed like hours her small hand closed around the base of his cock and she began to stroke it.

A feral grunt and a low moan escaped his lips as she sucked on his tip and he felt her tongue sliding over and around it. He watched her, breathing hard and feeling passion rolling off both of them in waves so that it seemed to pool on the mattress around them.

After only about thirty second of watching her, he found he could no longer take it.

He sat up abruptly, grabbed her firmly by the waist, their lips crashing together in a painfully needy kiss, and pulled her bodily on top of him. He wanted… no, he _needed… _to be inside her. He wanted to fill her and see and have her show him how he made her feel.

She straddled him smiling and as he began to position himself, he changed his mind, and with a vice-like grip on her waist, flipped them both over so that he was on top again.

Her breaths were coming out in short bursts and she prepared herself before she said, "Wait,"

He looked up at her, feeling wild.

She turned her head away, even though her eyes were covered and said, "I've never done this before…"

He cocked his head. Did she still want this?

"I do," She responded apparently reading his thoughts, "But I'm scared."

He lowered his head close to her face and said in a low, but tender voice that cracked slightly from his arousal, "Are you sure?" Suddenly, he wasn't so sure, but she nodded vigorously looking back in the direction of his eyes.

"I do…so much. But, please be gentle…"

Furrowing his brow, he cupped her face and said, "We'll go as slow and gentle as you want. Just tell me what to do."

In response, she brought her legs up higher to give him more room, and pulled his face down to hers in a warm, tender kiss.

He felt reassured. And the tender moment had eased his painful feelings of urgency and the fog of passion in his mind so that he could do things at her speed more easily now. He felt in control of the moment again.

Reaching down between them, he took himself in hand and positioned himself at her entrance. Looking down, he slid the tip of his erection over her sex, moistening it with her arousal. Slowly, he pushed the tip in, and he let go and refocused his attention on her face.

Her mouth was open slightly and she appeared to be holding her breath as he continued to push slowly into her.

His eyes rolled and he closed them. She was so tight and wet and warm that he could get lost, but he knew he had to wait for her to catch up.

At last, he broke through her maidenhead and she gave a small grunt of discomfort. He stilled and rubbed his thumb over her lip before kissing her very tenderly. "It's okay," he said as he pulled back slowly. For the next few thrusts, he moved very slowly, kissing her gently and uttering words of affection and encouragement into her ear, helping her through the ache. After the fourth pump, he felt her body relax. After the fifth, she let out a soft moan. After the sixth, she began to pant amorously. After that, he began to speed up and push deeper inside her. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and hissed ferally as he hit her back wall deep inside her and she cried out in pleasure. She drug her nails purposefully up his back leaving behind pink lines, and moaned and panted and purred with pleasure and he pumped in and out of her and released his own series of low, feral growls and moans.

They had begun to sweat, and he captured her lips and they kissed as he stroked inside of her. He bit her lip and pulled sensually, and she arched her back and scraped her tongue across his.

He stopped briefly without withdrawing himself and flipped them again so that she was on top. Grabbing her hips, he guided her until she got the hang of it. She rode him magnificently as he massaged her breasts and teased her nipples while they fucked.

After a moment, he sat up and took a steel hold on either side of her waist and hauled her light body up higher on his cock. She draped her arms over his shoulders, and he moved her manually up and down on his cock and soon he felt it begin to swell and engorge as his climax began to approach. But he wouldn't come until she did, so he laid her down on her back and threw her leg up on his shoulder so that he could get deeper inside her and rubbed her clit with his thumb while he kissed her, and they licked and nipped at each other's lips. As sweat dripped from his forehead and their slick bodies continued to hump, Ter'a continued to pant and moan through the kisses, and soon he felt her walls clamp down on his cock, her back arched up against his chest, and her body went rigid, as she let out a series of moaning cries. Two seconds later his cock began to throb inside her as he spilled himself deep inside her. He cried out and his eyes rolled back in his head as he continued to thrust into her, hard, until he felt like his was seeing stars and he couldn't tell which way was up or down.

Unable to hold himself up on his weak and shaking arms any longer, he collapsed on top of her with his head in her neck.

For several minutes, they laid there unmoving, save for their heaving breaths and shaking, sweaty bodies. Din had never in his life felt so depleted of energy before. He couldn't move. He was shaking from exertion and both he and Ter'a were slick with sweat. He could hear the frantic rhythm of her heart and feel the gasping pants of her breath.

After a while, he managed to roll sideways off her and she scooted into his sweaty arms. They were both absolutely exhausted and as they fell asleep almost immediately, Din's last vague thought was that he couldn't wait to get this tired with her again.


	14. Chapter 14 - New Jobs

a/n – Here's some more lemons, but from Ter'a's perspective. A little more mild than before.

Also, Takara is Japanese for treasure (according Google translate)

Please review!

**Chapter 14 – New Jobs**

Ter'a's eyes fluttered open but the world was still shrouded in darkness. She blinked several times trying to shake away the darkness, but after a moment it all came flooding back. She still had the mask on, and she had been sleeping more soundly than she had in as long as she could remember. She had been absolutely exhausted. Din still had his arms wrapped around her and they were both still naked. Sighing contentedly, she thought about the previous night. After leaving Tatooine, they both showered and patched each other up, then what? She had given him a sensuous look in the cockpit and descended the ladder. And he followed. After that, he teased her body to its breaking point and been more than happy to let her return the favor.

She wished she could've seen all of it, but their time together had been so amazing, so wonderful, that eyesight seemed unimportant. Plus, she'd used the Force to feel it all out and she didn't really need her eyes. There had been perfectly competent Jedi Knights that had been blind, after all.

Din had been so considerate of her needs and her initial nervousness. She could feel his feelings of urgency when he'd lifted her up from the attention she'd been giving to his groin, and laid her across his lap. He had ignored his own sexual needs for so long in teasing her, and when she was teasing him she'd either taken a little too long, or he just reached his own breaking point. She knew though that he'd just reached his breaking point; between the growing need in his body and his sensual teasing of hers, his mind's defenses had broken, and his need turned from playful desire to primal demands and he'd needed relief immediately.

Maz's words flashed in her mind. She'd always… _always, _told Ter'a that she should wait to give her body to the man or woman that she most felt deserved it. To the being who made her feel special. To someone who would care for who she was and would cherish her. She thought about how Din always seemed to consider her before himself… and last night was no different. She thought about how amazing he made her body feel. Even when he was close to release, she felt it when he denied himself to sate her needs first. He also figured out very quickly all the spots on her body that felt best to her, as well as the methods on eliciting the most intense responses, and she'd quickly found release. And afterwards, they'd both been drenched in sweat, shaking from effort, and _absolutely exhausted. _She knew that she'd saved her body for the right person…

She smiled. She was ready to feel that tired again. It was worth the exertion to feel how she'd made him feel… to feel how he made her feel.

She turned into him and nuzzled into his neck. In response, he pulled her closer and tightened his hold on her but didn't seem to wake up. But she _wanted_ to wake him. Thinking about last night made her feel specifically needy again and she felt the moisture pool between her legs and needed relief from it. Reaching up, she stroked his chin and trailed her fingers down his chin to his neck, and then down to his chest where she swirled her finger drawing listless shapes. Then she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.

These actions seemed to wake him up, as he took a deep breath and moaned slightly from her tickles. Then his fingers began to run up and down her spine causing her to shiver and get goosebumps all over. He breathed out a laugh. "Good morning," he said huskily, pushing her back and into the mattress, as he rolled over on top of her and dipped his head into the crook of her neck to nip at her skin.

She giggled and said, "Good morning to you too..." She could feel his erection against her inner thigh and her excitement piqued further. Reaching down between them, she wrapped her fingers around his length, and he sucked in a sharp breath before covering her mouth with his own with a growl.

She closed her eyes and hummed into his mouth. He tasted so good.

She moved her hand up and down on his length, eliciting more sounds of satisfaction from him. But soon he pulled her hand away and gathered both of them above her head with one of his hands the way she liked. It made him feel powerful to her. Then leaning his weight on his elbow, never breaking their kiss, he positioned himself at her entrance and rubbed the tip of his cock across it several times before pushing into her. They both groaned against each other's mouths with pleasure at the feeling. Then he began to move inside her, in and out, with increasing urgency. With her hands pinned above her head she was powerless to do anything, but she wanted to grip the sheets, to run her nails down his back, to run her fingers through his hair… He broke the kiss and gave a low laugh as he watched the frustration play out on her face as he stroked inside her.

Finally though, he released her hands and leaned back on his knees to grab her waist and pulled her back with him laying her bottom across his lap. He guided her hips up and down on his erection before releasing her hips in favor of her breasts, where he kneaded and massaged gently while teasing her already hard nipples. She panted and moaned as she lifted her hips to his tip and then brought them back down the length of his shaft. In this position, he hit a spot inside her that, every time it was touched, sent jolts of pleasure radiating out from it to the tips of her fingers, toes, and head. It caused her eyes to roll back in her head and for her voice to crack with her mewling, which had started to come out more and more breathlessly. She also took great pleasure in the sounds he made. As she humped him, he made low, feral growls and fierce hisses as he'd suck in a sharp breath from the pleasure.

Sitting up, she pushed him backward onto his back and mounted him, panting. He hoisted her up so that she could position herself over him before sliding down onto his length. As she slid down slowly, he hissed sharply, and she let out a long and shaky breath. Then, she fell forward with her hands falling on both sides of his head and began to grind against him. He held her hips as they fell into a rhythm together. She pulled herself back and forth across his groin, rubbing her clit against him and it felt so good that it made her arms and legs and torso shake. Soon, she could feel her climax fast approaching and, based on his own ragged breathing and the vice grip he had on her hips, he wasn't far behind her.

Just like the night before, he had reached the end of his tether of self-control and sat up with her in his lap, and began to manually drag her whole body up and down on his cock with a vice grip on her waist while he took her nipples one at the time in his mouth causing her to cry out.

As they both reached a critical point of arousal, he wrapped his arms tightly around her as they moved furiously against each other and buried his face in her neck, suckling at her flesh and growling against her skin. She twisted her fingers in his hair and leaned into him. Finally, their bodies went rigid and twitched with the climax that they'd both reached simultaneously. She felt him spilling inside her as she clamped down on him and her walls twitched convulsively with her orgasm.

Once they both came down from their climax, he released his hold on her and collapsed backward onto the mattress, pulling her down on top of him.

Once again, they were both exhausted and sweaty, but neither wanted sleep now.

For some time, they laid in the same position, holding and caressing each other. He brushed her messy hair out of her face and stroked her head and tickled her back. She played with his hair and drew more listless shapes across his body, which broke out in goosebumps in response.

Eventually, as is life, they needed to get back to their duties. So, after at least two hours of laying with each other, Din said, "I need to check the nav computer. We should nearly be to Corellia."

Nodding, she sat up and said, "Plus the child is probably _dying_ to get out of that pod to eat and play."

Din took her face gently in his hands, kissed her chastely, and said, "Until tonight then… cyar'ika."

She rolled off of him so he could get up, smiling at his Mando'a nickname for her…

Din was physically exhausted. But there was a lot to do. He ran up to the cockpit, still naked, to see how much time was left until they'd need to exit hyperspace. He still had about two hours. Plenty of time to shower and dress…. Sliding back down the ladder, he saw that she hadn't moved, and he knew she was waiting for the all clear to remove the sleep mask. He smiled at her thoughtfulness. They'd gotten extremely sweaty last night and this morning and he wanted a quick shower. He said to her, "We're about two hours from exiting hyperspace. I'm going to shower. Once the door to the head closes behind me, you can take that off."

"Ok. Is there anything you need me to do while you're in there?"

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Not too much, but I can try to whip something up," she smiled.

"Ok, I'm starving… and I'm sure you are too," he smiled as her kissed her crown before going into the head.

As soon as the door closed, she pulled the mask off. Everything in the dimly lit hold felt exceedingly bright. As she blinked away the sensitivity, she stood up, washed her hands, and began to heat a pot of bantha stock, before turning to chop onions, mushrooms, and other ingredients for a soup that she'd had as a child at the Jedi Temple.

She didn't bother to dress because as soon as he came out of the shower, she wanted to go in. It felt weird, cooking naked, but she didn't want to the get the clean clothes she'd worn for all of thirty minutes last night to get her dried sweat on it.

After about ten minutes, she'd added all of the ingredients and the head door swished open. Din came out in his tunic, trousers, boots, and helmet. He must've had a hell of a time trying to dress in the tiny space.

He stopped dead when he saw her standing at the hot plate, still stark naked, and cocked his head.

Suddenly, she felt very self-conscious and she tried to cover herself, but he strode over to her and pulled her into him in a crushing hug before running his still bare hands greedily over her body. She laughed as she pushed him away. "Don't start that again, or we'll crash right through Corellia."

He backed away, not looking away from her. She wished she could see his eyes, but she knew he was smiling hungrily at her. "Watch the soup for me?" she asked. "I want to shower too, and I need you to make sure that it doesn't boil over."

He nodded and stepped around her, trailing his fingers across her bare abdomen along the way. She turned and kissed his helmet before walking straight for the shower.

The water felt good, and she felt so refreshed after scrubbing herself clean and washing out her hair. She didn't want to leave the shower, but she was getting extremely hungry. Wrapping the towel around herself, she did up her hair in the mirror and exited the head.

When she came back out, he'd already spooned out the soup into bowls on the table and brought the child downstairs and was feeding him bread and his favorite Corellian apple slices. The child seemed exceedingly grateful to be out of the pod, and Ter'a felt a pang of guilt at having left him in there for so long… She wasn't even sure how long it was but knew it had been at least several hours, though he'd probably slept for nearly all of it.

Sitting down, she donned her sleep mask again, and picked up her spoon. But before she could begin to eat, Din said in his modulated tones, "How can you eat with that on?"

Smiling she said, "Well, this is the original purpose I had imagined for this mask."

He laughed. "Are you serious?"

Laughing back, she said, "Of course! Only after I'd purchased it did I think of other_…_ more _creative_ uses for it…"

He let out a breath of a laugh and said, "I see. But I still don't see how you can eat with it."

Shaking her head, she said, "With the Force, of course!"

"Show me."

Looking up at where she knew him to be, she arched her eyebrow. "You don't believe me?"

"It's not that… it's just that I want to see it." Then he added offhandedly, "I know better than to doubt your abilities with the Force."

Smiling, she called the spoon to her hand with the Force for good measure and began to eat just as skillfully as she would have done without the blindfold.

He sat down next to her and asked pensively, "Can you see through that thing?"

"No."

"But the Force lets you see just the same with it as without it." It wasn't a question.

"In a manner of speaking… but not necessarily."

"I don't understand."

"Well…." She thought about how to try and explain it. "Well, it's basically like seeing through it, but it's really just trusting the Force to know what's there."

"So…" he began. She detected the nervousness in his voice and though knew the question he was going to ask. "So, does that mean you can see my face? You know what I look like?"

She smiled gently, set her spoon down and pulled the mask off her face so he could see the truth in her eyes as she answered his question. She knew that his trust would hinge on this conversation and she wanted to give him every reason to believe what she was going to say. She'd been wondering when he'd ask her this anyway. Looking at him she answered very carefully and truthfully, "Technically, yes, I can… or I _could_… if I wanted to," she continued, speaking slowly. "I can see your face if I wanted to regardless of this mask," she gestured at the sleep mask, "or your helmet or anything else. But firstly, it's important to me that you know that I choose not to. I know it's The Creed… part of The Way of the Mandalore, so I've blocked it out." She paused for a moment so he could digest her answer. "Secondly, it's not like seeing your face in person. It's more like… an… accurate shadow? If that's the right way to put it. For example, I know your hair is curly because I've touched it, but through the Force, I also can guess… rightly, I think… that it's some darker shade of brown… And that your eyes are very dark brown as well?" She said it like a question, but she knew it was true. Sighing, she finished, "I can go on from there to picture your face in my mind, but I won't. I haven't. I want to respect you and The Creed. I won't do anything to jeopardize our friendship, partnership, or anything else you and I share. Do you trust my promise?"

She looked at him for several long moments while he stared back, mulling over her words. At last he nodded and said, "I trust you with my life. With my name. I know I can trust you with my face." He looked down at his hands and sighed. "I want to show you. I've been thinking about it for a while… I just… I don't know how I'd feel… after. If I could still put it back on in good conscience."

"I don't want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. I'd _never_ ask that of you," she stated firmly, putting her hand on his. "You know that right?"

He took her hand in his. "I know. I know what the Creed says about revealing your face. I also know that there are those who share their face only with those with whom they are most intimate. You are my clan now... You and the kid…" he trailed off.

She had seen an internal argument going on in his mind in the idle hours, but hadn't known what it was about. Now, after hearing the anguish in his voice, she knew now that it was about this.

"For now," she said, capturing his head in her hands, "try not to think about it. Things are fine the way they are. This is the way. In the end, you must do whatever you feel is right, of course. Just know, that whatever you decide, I'll stand by you. It's also important to me to emphasize that I want no part in pressuring you to break your sacred vows. And I'll understand…" She reached for the mask and slipped it back over her eyes, picked up her spoon and began to eat. After a moment, she heard him pull off his helmet and do the same. As they ate he said, "I want to try and get a bounty job so we can get some creds. We'll need supplies and fuel again soon enough."

She nodded and said, "I'm no bounty hunter, but I'll help you with whatever you need."

"I think we'll have a good amount of choices in Coronet City."

"Of course. Corellia is an excellent place to find work as a bounty hunter."

After clearing up, Din had kissed Ter'a passionately before donning his helmet and pulling off her mask. Then he headed to the cockpit, leaving her with the kid. As he sat down in the pilot's chair, he thought about how he was really starting to hate that damn sleep mask already. Sure, it made things easy, but he had now begun to think about making love to her without it on. He couldn't see the passion in her eyes. He loved to see her face and hear the noises that he elicited from her, but he thought now of her eyes and what they would say to him if he could see them.

Rolling his eyes, he looked at the nav computer. Thirty seconds…. He was playing a dangerous game now, thinking about wanting to see her eyes locked with his while they slept together… Twenty seconds… He just loved looking at her eyes when they talked, when she fought… always so full of life and energy… let alone while they were in the throes of passion… she'd look glorious… Ten seconds… he sighed, frustrated_... it was always _something_ with him,_ he thought exasperatedly to himself.

Pulling the lever, he dropped the ship out of hyperspace. He felt sexually frustrated all of the sudden, as the huge blue marble of Corellia filled the viewport. Pursing his lips, he knew that for the first time in as long as he could even remember, he couldn't possibly call himself sexually frustrated, but this eye thing was going to eat at him now, as something always must. He had been hoping that she'd say that she had seen his face through the Force, so he might've been able to decide more easily that it didn't matter if he _really _took the helmet off because she'd basically already seen him. But no, she'd _had_ to take the high road and blocked his face from her mind.

He huffed a breath. Why was he annoyed with her? All she'd done was be respectful to him and the Creed… Still… he shook his head and banged his fist on the console. Would his internal arguments never end?

The ship lurched slightly as he set it down on landing pad 2187 at the Coronet spaceport. He stood, stretched and headed down the ladder.

At the bottom, he found Ter'a laying the kid in his pod as she prepared to exit the ship with Din. "Where are we going to find work?" she asked him, standing up again.

"There's a bar outside the spaceport. It's called The Harbor. I can usually find work there when I need it."

Nodding, she hit the button to lower the ramp as she clipped her lightsaber to her belt.

They descended the ramp with the kid's pod in tow. After the events on Tatooine, they decided that they'd keep the kid with them at all times.

He squeaked and cooed as they walked, and Din thought he seemed very happy to be off the ship again and not on a desert planet as dry as Tatooine.

After about twenty-five minutes' walk, they stopped outside a dingy looking pub that had a flickering sign above it that read 'The Harbor' in blue Aurebesh letters. Opening the door, Din ushered Ter'a inside, before closing the kid's pod and heading in. The Harbor's clientele sat around the bar chatting, and the screens and consoles above their heads showed everything from galactic news reels, to sports games, and no one was interested in a Mandalorian and his travel companion in the slightest.

Din led Ter'a to a back booth that was occupied by a human male who was beginning to reach his twilight years. He had pale skin, greying hair, and a scar on his face that began above his right eye and ended below the right side of his lips. When he saw Din, he smiled lopsidedly and said, "Well! Mando! I haven't seen you in _many_ cycles! How are you?"

"Fine, Dex, thanks. You?"

They shook hands and Dex said, "Oh, great! You know… work is work! Who's your friend?"

Din had always liked Dex. And he was pleased to see that at least one person that he introduced Ter'a to was at least outwardly respectful. "This is Takara. She's my partner. We've done a few jobs together over the years, but right now, we're working together for a while."

Nodding, Dex shook Ter'a's hand and said, "Good to meet'cha Takara! I can't believe you're crazy enough to work with this old fool!" And he laughed merrily, jerking his thumb at Din.

"It's good to meet you, Dex," Ter'a said with a smile, "Mando talks very highly of you."

Din smiled at her flattery of Dex. She might not be a bounty hunter, but she knew how to play the game.

"Ah, well… he knows I pay well, hahaha. Sit! Sit down, both of you! Let's have a drink and discuss business…" he gestured them both to sit in the booth and Ter'a shimmied in, with Din following her.

Holding his hand up to the bartender, Dex yelled, "Two more over here!" and the bartender brought a drink for Ter'a and Dex. "Haha, Mando," smiled Dex, "It's too bad you can't have a drink with that helmet on… The Harbor is shabby, but the bartender serves the best drinks!"

Din shook his head and smiled.

"Now…" said Dex, as her swallowed a big sip of his drink. "I suppose you're here for some Guild work?"

"Yeah, Takara and I are looking to make some creds. What do you got?"

"Oh, well now, I got a few things…" the old man fished around in his pocket and pulled out several tracking fobs and laid them across the table in front of him. "All bail jumpers…" he said, gesturing at the lot. I can give you two or three of 'em."

"Okay, we'll take 'em. How ever many you'll give us."

Dex handed Ter'a three fobs, and she put them in her pack.

"Thanks, Dex," said Din, standing. Ter'a followed suit.

"Anytime old friend! You land at Coronet? That's where you can bring 'em. Come find me here, just like usual, and I'll get you your creds."

Din nodded and turned away and Ter'a said, "Thanks, nice to meet you Dex." And they walked out of The Harbor.

As they walked back to the ship Ter'a said, "He was the nicest contact you've introduced me to so far."

"Yeah. He's a good guy. He's one of the only honest ones I've ever had."

Ter'a nodded and they kept walking.

After a while they finally returned to the ship and began to prepare to take off again. As Ter'a pulled out the fobs and gave them to Din so that he could figure out where they needed to go, he realized that she seemed pensive about something.

"You okay?"

She started. He caught her in the middle of her thoughts. "Oh! Yeah, just thinking… you keep telling people my name is Takara… as an alias."

Din cocked his head, "So?"

"Then you called me Takara earlier… 'Until tonight then, Takara', that's what you said… I thought it was a name you made up. Until you called me that when we got out of bed."

"Mmm," he nodded.

She stopped and looked at him, curious and confused, "What does Takara mean?"

Smiling, he stepped close to her and tilted her chin up to him. Looking down at her he said, "Takara means 'treasure'. It's a forgotten language… I don't know it's origin, but my father used to call my mother 'Takara'."

She beamed up at him, blushing furiously, before looking away, embarrassed. He wanted to kiss her, but they'd need that damned sleep mask…. "Close your eyes," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"Close your eyes, I'm going to take off my helmet."

She clamped her eyes shut, and he yanked his helmet off and set it on the table next to where they were standing, before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. Her fingers went up to her favorite place in his hair, and he cupped her neck with both his hands. Their tongues danced and they smiled against each other's mouth's before kissing some more. Then she broke the kiss and said with her eyes closed, "You've been calling me Takara since Coruscant."

"So?"

"So…" she smiled. "When you introduced me to Ao, that was the first time you called me that."

Looking down at her, he drug his thumb over her bottom lip. "I knew, even then, how special you are," and he kissed her again before putting his helmet back on and she opened her eyes and smiled at him. He saw her eyes were full of affection.

They went up to the cockpit together with the kid and she asked him, "Where to? Which one do you want to do first?"

"Hmm," he turned the fobs over in his hand and chose one at a time to see where they'd need to go.

After a few minutes he said, "Well, we can go to Cantonica, Dathomir, or Naboo. What do you think?"

Immediately, she said, "I don't want to go to Dathomir. Let's save that one and see if they go somewhere else…"

He cocked his head, "What's wrong with Dathomir?" Though he knew Dathomir was a rough place with rough inhabitants.

"A lot of Sith came from there," she said pensively. "And the Nightsisters…. It's not a place I want to go if possible."

_Fair, _he thought, nodding. "Okay, how about Naboo?"

She nodded and said, "Sounds wonderful."

Din handed her the fobs back and punched in the coordinates for Naboo. "It's going to take a couple days to get there."

"Good," she said, her expression clearing. "Plenty of time to… _relax."_

Din stopped abruptly and turned his head toward her slowly. When he turned, he saw her looking back at him flirtatiously. Again, he noticed her eyes, which were filled, this time, with sensuality and desire. His internal argument flared. All of a sudden, he realized he seemed to notice her eyes before anything else… This was going to get harder for him, he thought, as the Crest lifted off and he guided them out to space.

But, as he maneuvered them into the hyperspace lane, he thought that she was going to tire him out and he was more than willing to return the favor, and no one was going to hear him complaining.


	15. Chapter 15 - The Others

a/n – I know it's been almost a year since I added anything new, I'm sorry! After the season ended I didn't know where to take the story. Well, so far after the first three chapters of the new season, I've gotten some ideas. I got the idea for this chapter after seeing Chapter 11. I actually erased two or three new chapters I'd been trying to figure out to rewrite this portion of the story. I hope you like it!

Also, I went through and reread the story so that I could pick up where I left off properly and found some mistakes so I reuploaded all the old chapters and made corrections and updates.

**Chapter 15 – The Others**

They went to Naboo first, then to Dathomir. Ter'a had either overcome her dislike of the Nightsisters or just decided to rip the bandage off because she suggested Dathomir to Din as they left Naboo.

They had little trouble on either planet, though as they explored Dathomir looking for their bounty, Ter'a had explained to Din that she wasn't thrilled to go there because it was the son of one of the Nightsisters, Talzin, who had killed her uncle.

"My uncle's name was Qui gon Jinn," she told him.

Apparently, she only knew him because they were at the temple together and he'd told her that she was his niece. She said that Qui gon had been a rather rebellious Jedi who, more often than not, lived by his own rules and agenda. But he had been killed by the Sith apprentice, Darth Maul, when Ter'a was still very young and so she didn't remember much about him.

Now, they were on their way to Cantonica. Din knew that their quarry was most likely in the casino city of Canto Bight. In fact, he thought to himself, there were likely to be _a lot_ of bounties in Canto Bight. He and Ter'a could probably fetch several criminals for their bounty while they were there… too bad they didn't have the time, many of the bounties to be found there probably came with quite a price.

As Din pulled the Crest out of hyperspace, Cantonica's orangish glow filled the area in front of them and Din consulted the fob before heading in the direction of Canto Bight.

"Where are we headed?"

Ter'a came up into the cockpit with the kid clinging to the fabric of her sleeve, like a living arm band. When she sat down, he crawled down onto her lap and she strapped herself in and levitated the child, making him squeal with laughter.

"Canto Bight."

"Ah, I'm sure we could find quite a few valuable bounties there."

"Yeah, it's too bad we don't really have the time."

She nodded in agreement and they sat in silence as the ship docked on one of the western landing pads.

Din and Ter'a knew from the get go that the trip to this planet was going to be much less easy going than the previous two. Firstly, Cantonican security wasn't overly welcoming on the landing pad. The Razor Crest, though efficient, effective, and Din's pride and joy, wasn't any wealthy-looking space cruiser, and the snobby port officials weren't particularly keen to have such a scrap-heap cluttering their landing pads. Secondly, Canto Bight was known for its gambling and therefore a certain criminal element hung around… the high-end kind. Though the port officials couldn't stop the pair from conducting their work, they certainly didn't want to let the message spread to their wealthy clientele and their ill-gotten gains that they'd allow poachers of their lifestyle into port. So, it was with the upmost reluctance and the sworn promise not to cause a scene that Din and Ter'a walked into the casino city at sundown.

"Do you know," Ter'a whispered sarcastically, "I think we may have to make a hasty exit from this planet…"

"Hmph," Din grunted, "I think you might be right… 'Til then, let's just try to stay out of the way and under everyone's radar."

Din's request seemed to be much easier said than done, however. His beskar, shiny as it was, drew a lot of eyes. He also noticed that Ter'a got quite a few looks as well. At first, Din thought the gamblers were gazing at her because she was beautiful, but then he noticed several of them staring at her waist. It was then that he realized that more than a few beings in the galaxy still knew or remembered what a lightsaber was. He pulled her into an alcove off a hallway and pulled the weapon from her belt.

"We gotta find a better place for this…" he breathed, sliding it into a pocket on his trousers. "Just call it with the Force if you need it."

"Of course," she nodded.

Stepping back out, they continued walking nonchalantly down the walkway with the kids' closed pod trailing close behind. Glancing at the fob Din said, "He's gotta be here somewhere… look for a human, maybe mid-30's, black hair." 

"That," Ter'a said matter-of-factly and gesturing around them, "could be hundreds of these beings…"

She was right. This bounty was going to be difficult to find in this sea of gamblers. They'd have to rely on the fob to point them in the right direction.

As the fob's beeping slowly quickened, they knew they were getting close.

Unfortunately, it seemed, the man knew he had a bounty out on him. As soon as he saw the pair of them, he flipped the sabacc table he was sitting at and bolted. The overturned table caused a huge scene. Security personnel and gamblers alike were in an instant uproar. It appeared the bounty was playing a high-stakes table and the capsized table sent credits, gems, jewelry, and other valuables flying. Beings of all walks ran to claim the items, theirs or not, and security attempted to both sort out the chaos and find the culprit. They also zeroed in on Din and Ter'a and began to try and take them into custody. Grabbing Ter'a's arm, Din ran for it in the direction of the bounty. Shots rang out over their hands as they fled. Ter'a called her lightsaber from Din's pocket and deflected the shots that came near them. The gambling area descended into chaos.

As they rounded a corner, they ran into a small squad of patrol officers. "Ugh," said Ter'a, "I had a feeling something like this was going to happen… If I didn't know these officers were most likely corrupt, I'd feel bad."

Din watched as she deflected blaster bolts with her saber, sending them back into the chests of the officers who fired them, and was, not for the first time, thankful for the Force.

While she covered them, he pulled out the fob. _Damn it._ The bounty was getting further away. At least it seemed he was too dumb to head for the spaceport to steal a ship, but they had to keep pressing forward. Trusting her with his life, Din stepped out of cover and began to push forcefully forward. He nearly jumped back when a blaster bolt stopped in midair halfway to him aimed for his chest. Looking back, he saw Ter'a with an arm out concentrating on the bolt. Din stepped sideways out of its path and she released it only to send the volley back at its owner with her lightsaber.

The fighting continued this way for some time. As they emerged out into the night sky things took a turn for the worse. A small platoon of officers arrived in a trooper patrol carrier and pinned them down. They really were in between a rock and a hard place now as Din turned and saw about ten heat signatures approaching from the rear as well.

He pushed Ter'a and the kid's pod into a cutout in the wall and they stood back to back fighting opposite sides. A couple of lucky shots charred the outside of the kid's pod. He took the ten men behind them, and she took on the platoon with her lightning quick reflexes.

They were doing a decent job of picking off the patrols, but the officers had them in numbers, and despite taking them out, they continued to advance.

"At some point, they'll be too close you know, even for me!" Ter'a yelled back.

Din said nothing. There was nothing to say, she'd said it all. At this point, it wasn't like the patrols were going to take them alive…

A familiar sound met his ears and he looked up in time to see a jetpack attached to none other than a Mandalorian fall into view. Shocked, Din barely avoided getting shot by one of the security officers. As he recovered himself, two more Mandalorian's landed behind the patrol. Now they really had the upper hand. With the patrol pincered between Ter'a, Din, and the newcomers, they made quick work of the rest of them.

Stepping out into the now cleared hallway, Din said, shaking hands with the apparent leader, "I didn't know that Mandalorian's were welcomed in Canto Bight."

"Well, _we_ aren't bounty hunters," the man said with a chuckle. "And, we're just passing through on the way to Trask," he said, shaking Din's hand. "I'm Kal Eta, of Clan Zakkeg.

"Right, Din… I've been looking for other Mandalorians since I left Nevarro."

"Nevarro?" questioned one of the Mandalorians from behind pulling off his helmet. The other two did the same.

Angered, Din hissed, "Where did you steal that armor?"

Kal Eta looked confused for a moment and opened his mouth to respond but, Ter'a beat him to it.

"There are a variety of sects of the Way of the Mandalore, Din. This one has a different interpretation than the one you follow,"

Din, wide-eyed and amazed, turned to look at her.

"He's one of _them,"_ said a female Mandalorian from the back, somewhat derisively.

"What do you mean, 'one of _them'," _Din said defensively.

"One of the Watch," said Ter'a impassively.

"This one knows her Mandalorian history… though I suppose she would… having been educated at the Temple," stated Kal Eta shrewdly.

Din was speechless. He was apparently the only being here who didn't know what everyone else had going on, and it frustrated him to no end.

"How do you know she was taught at the Jedi Temple?" he said.

"She wields a lightsaber and bends the Force to her will," Kal Eta said simply.

Turning to Ter'a, Din asked, "And how do _you_ know about the different sects of the Way of the Mandalore?"

"Like he said, I was taught about many species, planets, and ways of life when I lived in the Temple."

"And you have a problem with the Children of the Watch?" he asked, turning back to Kal Eta.

"I don't," shrugged Kal Eta. "My companions don't either, but many of those of the Watch are… unpredictable religious zealots."

"How did you come by the Way and the Children of the Watch?" asked the woman who spoke before.

"I was a foundling. They saved me from Sepratist droids and adopted me into their clan."

Nodding understandingly, Kal Eta smiled and said, "Forgive Mel Akan, it's uncommon these days to find a Mandalorian, let alone one of the Watch."

Din didn't know what to think. He knew that there were other sects of the Way, but he'd never met any and was always told that their ways were wrong, impure. It was wrong to remove ones' helmet in the company of others. He wanted to accept these newcomers, but it was hard. "What about you, how did you learn of the Way?" he asked.

"I… uh, _we_," Kal gestured to his companions, "are from Mandalore… at least, our parents all were. We were all born in exile. The armor we wear once belonged to our parents before us. We are travelling to Trask to join with Bo Katan in her quest to reclaim our homeworld and reestablish the monarchy with her as the new Queen of Mandalore."

"Would you join us brother?" asked the woman named Mel Akan.

"I… I can't," Din said resolutely. "This child," he opened the pod and revealed the child to the group. They marveled at it as he continued, "he's a foundling. I rescued him on Arvala-7. I'm trying to return him to his clan… or his planet… his people."

All of the Mandalorians nodded understandably. Kal Eta said, "Yes, according to the Way, he is your charge, part of your clan. You must complete this quest." He glanced at Ter'a. "And… though historically the Jedi have been no friend to our people, you have a clearly trustworthy and knowledgeable companion." He inclined his head to her in a slight bow.

Kal Eta replaced his helmet on his head and the others followed suit. "We will help you get off world."

After he finished speaking, he approached as Din pulled out the tracking fob for a location. After getting a directional fix, he closed the kids' pod and directed Ter'a and the others to follow him.

The fob took them into the high, dry grasses of the desert beyond the city. The bounty was attempting to hide among a herd of fathiers. Once they'd caught up to him though, he put up very little fight.

Mel Akan and the other Mandalorian, Sata Ahn, took over his custody while the group fought their way back to the other side of the city to the western landing pads. With five, the fighting was much easier and quicker. Though Ter'a was worth at least two of them in a fight, the members of the Zakkeg clan were as adept in combat as Din was.

After they got to the Crest, they had to fight off a few port officers who were attempting to impound the ship. Once the all clear was made, Kal Eta walked up to them and turned to Ter'a. "Jedi, help keep your new clan safe. And you," he turned to Din, "once your mission is complete, I invite you to join us on Mandalore."

Din said nothing but nodded and shook Kal Eta's hand before the Zakkeg clan took off with their jet packs in the direction of their own ship.

As the Crest lifted off the pad, Din was more lost in thought than he'd ever been. Kal Eta and his clan members were something else. At first, he thought they had been imposters like Cobb Vanth. But they were just a different sect. The Mandalorians of the Watch told Din plenty of stories of other belief systems of the Way of the Mandalore but he never actually met any of them. If he was honest, until today he had his doubts that any more of them even existed. But it seemed to him that apparently his own sect was the minority here…

Then there was Ter'a. He always had a feeling that she knew more about Mandalorian history than she let on, and he was absolutely right. Of course she learned about Mandalore's history and people when she lived at the Temple… He was shocked but impressed about how much she knew, but he knew by now that he shouldn't doubt her when it came to… well… nearly everything.

He smiled to himself. She was constantly impressing him, which was both infuriating and amazing. She was the only person he knew, other than himself, who he didn't feel the need to second guess.

Thinking about Ter'a and the different ways of the Mandalore brought his ever-cyclical argument back to the forefront of his mind. His helmet. He'd seen now that it _was_ possible to follow the Way _and_ take his helmet off. Of course, this would mean changing sects… was he comfortable with that? He didn't know… yet. He also knew that Ter'a wouldn't encourage it, or rather, she wouldn't try to get him to change for her own selfish benefits or the wrong reasons. In fact, he knew that if he told her he wanted to change sects she'd given him the tenth degree to make sure that he was doing it for the right reasons, which he appreciated.

He huffed out a deep sigh… before he made any choices, he would need to do extensive, exhaustive research on the various ways of the Mandalore, something he hadn't done for a long, long time. Since around the time he'd received his first armor.

He huffed again. This time in frustration. Pursing his lips, he furrowed his brow. He was more confused than he'd ever been. For a long while, he really was at a loss; so much so that he stopped arguing with himself. He steered the ship, not looking, not thinking, just flying.

"Hey there… you okay?" came a soft voice.

With a deep breath, he turned to see Ter'a standing over him with a concerned look.

"You know, it'd be faster to get us where we're going if we use the hyperspace lane…" she smiled down at him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Nodding, he looked down as the kid pulled on the hem of his cloak. He bent and picked him up and set him in his lap. "Just thinking."

"I figured. I'd wondered if you've ever met any Mandalorian's from other sects… I guess I got my answer today…"

"I heard stories from the Watch elders, but… I-I… I guess I wasn't sure if any existed anymore," he said with a sigh. "It… was a shock – a surprise."

Ter'a watched as he stroked the child's ears absentmindedly and unscrewed the knob of the lever he loved so much before handing it to him.

She nodded, watching the child squeal and turn the little ball in his tridactyl hands before trying to levitate it.

"Are you okay?" she asked again.

"Yeah," was all he said as he maneuvered them into the hyperspace lane.

Ter'a was hesitant to talk to him more. He'd learned a lot about his people today and she had a feeling she knew the part of it all that preoccupied him. She'd follow him wherever he wanted to go, but not without making absolutely certain that he knew what it was that he was doing. He'd do his research though… that much she knew for sure.

"I think I'm going to take a nap," she said gently, "let me know if you need anything Din."

She waited until he nodded in response before planting a soft kiss to the crown of his helmet and turning away and leaving him with his thoughts.


	16. Chapter 16 - Refuel

a/n – I'm sorry if his chapter is sappy, I finished Lucifer so I started The Tudors and the Middle Age mannerisms might have rubbed off on Din and Ter'a a little.

There's also some hot stuff in this chapter.

**Chapter 16 – Refuel**

Ter'a's eyes opened. She felt refreshed, though she'd slept a lot longer than she'd intended, but that was okay. She turned onto her side and was met with a wall of beskar. Din had come down sometime while she slept and laid next to her. He was laying on his back breathing softly, with his hands on his abdomen, fingers interlaced. She scooted gently to the end of the bed and slid off. After checking the systems' she picked up the child and cradled him gently as he slept. Moving to the bed, she laid the sleeping child next to Din and he cuddled cutely next to his protector.

Ter'a returned to the cockpit and sat in the captains' chair and stared out of the viewport. After a few moments of watching the stars swirl passed in long lines of light speed, she looked down at the console. She never bothered to see where they were going. Sure, she looked at the hyperspace timer, but not at the planet at which it was counting down to.

Savareen. A planet she knew by reputation to house many refineries of coaxium during the height of the Empire. Now though, she believed there only to be one or two, as well as some refueling stations. She leaned against the console and let the hyperspace tunnel take her into a trance.

"Hey,"

Ter'a started and turned quickly.

"You surprised me," she said softly.

"I'm sorry," he said, approaching her and hooking a hand under her elbow to pull her up. When she stood he pulled her into a gentle hug. "Are you alright?"

She nodded against his chest, smiling, "Yes, just staring out…"

With a soft sigh, Din pulled back and captured Ter'a's chin in his hand and tilted her head up to look into her eyes for a moment before stepping around her to sit down and look at the hyperspace timer. "15 minutes."

Savareen was a bizarre planet. It was filled with pleasant looking, softly rolling oceans, yet the lands were desolate, bare, and covered with gently blowing sand. Ter'a looked around the refueling station as she walked slowly towards the cliffs. The wind whipped delicately at her hair, face, and clothes. The wind was strong, but it didn't harass her. Though the planet was strange in its lush yet deserted appearance, the wind smelled fresh and cool on her face and it was peaceful. She liked it.

The Crest had landed a few hours ago Ter'a took the child in his pod and walked along the cliffs with him while Din had the ship refueled and gathered what supplies could be found on a planet like Savareen. Ter'a stopped looked contentedly out at the sea. After a while, she felt so at peace she sat and hung her legs off the cliff and breathed deeply taking fresh sea air into her lungs. "It's strangely nice, isn't it?"

The child squealed happily in response.

Ter'a laughed and looked up at the child who also seemed to be enjoying the view and equilibrium.

They sat together quietly for some time. How long, Ter'a didn't keep track, but she felt more peaceful than she had in quite some time… since Takodana. Her travels with Din were full of adventure, passion, and laughter. But there was also danger, fear, and uncertainty and it was nice to escape those feelings here. It was like a waking meditation, sitting here on the cliff. She felt like she had, for a little while, no cares in the galaxy.

"You've been sitting out here for three hours," Din sighed, setting himself down next to her.

"Have I? It's so peaceful here," she smiled softly and closed her eyes with a deep breath.

"We should get going," he whispered.

She nodded as she tilted her head to him. He was already looking at her and he reached his hand over to caress her for a moment. He sighed. "We can't stay here for too long."

"I know, it just feels so serene…it's nice. It's a shame to leave such a place."

Din reached over and brushed her wind whipped hair from her face and heaved a deep breath, before looking out at the sea. He thought it was peaceful here too. Barren, but peaceful. "We can come back, if you like… when it's safer for us. Or anywhere else you'd like to go." he whispered.

"I think I would like that," she smiled, pulling herself to her feet. Din stood next to her and together they headed back to the ship.

"Everything is done?"

"Refueled, yeah. And I got what supplies I could in a backwater place like this."

"Sounds good,"

When they climbed the ramp and closed it, Din turned Ter'a and covered her eyes with his hand and pulled his helmet off with some difficulty and pressed his lips to hers in a soft, gentle kiss. "I'm sorry we can't stay longer cyar'ika. I'll make it up to you, I promise." After kissing her forehead, he replaced his helmet and she opened her eyes.

"So, are we headed back to Corellia? To turn in the bounties?"

Nodding, he rubbed his hands up and down her arms and stood chest to chest with her, "yeah, and maybe some more supplies."

"Sounds good. Wanna get us going?" she nodded her head toward the cockpit as he cradled her neck in his hands before slipping away and up the ladder.

Their trip back to Corellia was filled with the residual peace that they'd felt on Savareen. Ter'a knew that after Corellia, there were probably going to be some tough times ahead, dangerous times. Gideon wanted Ter'a and the Child and was determined to succeed or die trying. Until danger was thrown at them, Ter'a was determined to enjoy the calm.

"Hmm," Din hummed contentedly while he drew delicate circles on Ter'a's bare shoulder. In response to his touches her skin rippled with goosebumps and he kissed the area to soothe it.

"What?" Ter'a said, nuzzling him blindly.

"Just… happy?"

She laughed, "you mean you're not sure?"

He laughed too, "nah, it's just… I've always been so busy, preoccupied, or on the run to focus much on my own happiness."

"Well," she sat up a bit to direct her blind folded face towards him, "we're on the run now too you know."

"Yeah, but I'm… happy," he passed his thumb over her bottom lip. As he did so, she captured it gently in between her teeth and they laughed for a moment before the air turned passionate again.

Din kissed her passionately and she pushed him back onto his back and climbed over him to straddle his thighs. She pulled away and began to kiss her way down his body, making him writhe and moan.

When her lips closed around the tip of his hardness, his back arched slightly but he propped himself up to watch her as she went to work on him. His breathing increased and he soon became breathless and he tilted his head toward her.

After a moment he pulled her up and hooked her leg over his and flipped them so that he was on top of her. He kissed her softly while he played with her entrance for a few minutes, caressing her clit and swirling his fingertips against her opening.

Her head lolled back at his attention to her and she moaned pleasurably. She managed to pull her head back up and looked seductively into his eyes and pulled her lip in between her teeth.

They were both going wild with ecstasy, but he found himself wanting more. Din nipped and sucked at her neck as he pushed himself into her. They found a steady rhythm for a while as they caressed, kissed, rocked against each other. But after a while, she felt herself begin to tense, her breathing became shallow gasps, and then, suddenly she had vice-grip on his forearms as she came. Her body arched and seized up and she let out a loud sighing, "aaahhhh" as a held breath escaped her. After she had ridden out the high, Din stroked several more times inside her, his own moaning sighs becoming more desperate before he too released.

After he pulled out of her and lay down to her left, she rolled over and tossed her leg over his and placed her palm on his chest, which he covered with his own.

"So," she sighed breathlessly, "you're happy?"

"More than I ever thought I could be."

She giggled slightly into the crook of his shoulder and he stroked her hair.

After a few moments, their breathing returned to normal and Din spoke.

"You know, when I told you about my past… I was maybe to brief?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed sitting up slightly to look towards his face. "You don't have to tell me more."

"No… I want to. I trust you. I-I care about you. I want to tell you more about how I felt."

Ter'a smiled softly and nodded, "if you're sure…"

"I am." He leaned over, picked his helmet up and slid it onto his head before using both hands to gently tug the mask off her.

She blinked several times in the sudden light before gazing down at him, waiting.

"Well," he began. "If I'm honest with you, there isn't that much more to tell… I was young, happy, with my parents. When the droids came, they killed everything they saw, the elderly, the children… even the animals."

Ter'a's look of interest turned very sad. She knew his story was be awful but he was only a little boy who saw his world shatter and everyone in it snuffed out by faceless machines. She hadn't thought about it before when he only told her the short version.

"When my parents hid me in that grain closet… sometimes I still feel angry because there was enough room in there for all of us… but…" he shook his head, shaking away the feelings of anger that he obviously still felt from time to time. "But, maybe they wanted to try and help… I don't know. They closed me in there and then… the explosion. It rattled the doors and I… I was terrified. The next thing I know, the door opens and there's a droid looking down at me with his arm cannon raised."

Ter'a listened intently with her mouth slightly open.

"I knew that that was it. It was gunna kill me, but then its head… exploded. I was confused. But then, this Mandalorian in blue armor appeared and offered me his hand. And… when I took and he took me to their ship… I didn't know what was going to happen next..."

He paused. She tilted her head. "You were so small..."

He nodded, "I was…" his voice cracked slightly. "They… The Watch… they raised me taught me about the Way of the Mandalore… the Creed. When I was old enough I swore it and put on my armor for the first time." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. In her interest in the story, she'd crawled back on top of him so she could face him.

"So, what was it like growing up with the Watch?"

"Well, it w-," he was cut off as the hyperspace timer beeped. Less than 15 minutes to Corellia's airspace.

Sighing heavily, Din waited for Ter'a to climb off him before standing and donning his tunic, trousers, and boots. Then after Ter'a dressed, he put his hands on her shoulders and rested his forehead against hers. "I'll tell you about the Watch later," he whispered. She nodded understandingly and he stepped away to pick up the Child and they all went up to the cockpit.

Corellia looked just as dismal and grey as the last time they had been there. Ter'a preferred the grey skies, they always seemed so cozy to her. But the grey dullness of Corellia wasn't cozy at all. Coupled with the poverty and crime, the dark sky seemed depressing and filled with sadness. Ter'a and Din walked side by side with the child closed safely in his pod behind them.

As they entered The Harbor, they looked around. Dex was sat in his usual seat in the back booth. He looked up as they approached and smiled widely. "Ah! Back so soon! Excellent! Have a seat!"

Din gestured Ter'a into the booth and followed.

"Can I get you a drink, Takara?" Dex asked cordially.

"Thank you, Dex," she said nodding.

As he signaled the bartender, Din said, "I have all three bounties ready. They're in carbonite on the Crest, ready for delivery."

"Ooh Mando, always about business, haha!"

When Din didn't respond, he said, "oh very well. I'll send for them." He signaled across the bar to a couple of beings who nodded and left to retrieve the three bounties.

"Once the men send word that the bounties are in their custody and alive and well, I'll give you the credits so can be on your way."

"Thank you," Din nodded.

Ter'a sat and talked for a while with Dex. Din, maintaining his stoic composure, mostly sat and listened, interjecting only the occasional comment and answering a question succinctly when he was asked.

After about 20 minutes, Dex received the all-clear message from his men and passed the credits off to Din. With a nod of thanks, Din and Ter'a bid Dex goodbye and headed out of the cantina.

After they left the cantina, they made arrangements to have supplies delivered to the ship. The shopping district in Coronet City was much dingier and shadier than on Coruscant and Ter'a was eager not to linger for too long and was relieved when they returned to the shelter of the ship.

When they had gotten back and closed the ramp, they checked, as usual, for bugs and tracking devices. After once again finding none, they lifted off Corellia. Privately, Ter'a hoped never to return here. The gloominess of the Coronet City hung heavy on her in the same way the refreshment of Savareen had. She felt a bit sad now as she hung around the hold of ship as the child slept in his pod and Din took the ship into hyperspace.

She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes with her hands on her stomach and focused on her breathing.

Din looked out at the hyperspace tunnel for a few moments after they entered it. With a sigh he stood up and headed down the ladder. He was a little concerned. This was the first time that Ter'a didn't sit with him in the cockpit while they set out on their course and he wanted to make sure that she was okay.

When he entered the hold, he saw why she hadn't joined him: she was fast asleep. Brow furrowed he sat next to her on the bed. She usually didn't sleep without him and he began to wonder if she was alright. Should he wake her?

After a moments' thought, he decided he would. This behavior was a bit unusual and he wanted to double check that she was okay. Kneeling down beside her, he whispered, "Ter'a?"

Nothing.

A little more loudly he said again, "Ter'a? Wake up."

She sighed in her sleep but did not wake.

He said her name again and this time took her hand and squeezed it a little. This time, she did wake up and she blinked slowly as she looked to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I was gunna ask you the same question."

She looked confused as she sat up and swung her legs over the bed rubbing her eyes.

Din placed his hands on either side of her thighs and said, "This was the first time you didn't sit in the cockpit with me when we've left somewhere. I thought maybe… maybe you aren't feeling well?"

"Oh," she said. "Well, I feel… sad? Coronet City is so destitute and gloomy… it affected me a little… coupled with your story, I suppose. Like Savareen, but in a bad way."

Din was only slightly relieved. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Coronet City always made him feel a bit depressed too. It just had that kind of aura. He needed to pick up her spirits.

"What can I do?"

She looked thoughtfully at him for a moment. "Hmm… would you spar with me?"

Din was taken aback. That's what was going to make her feel better? "That'll help?" he said questioningly.

She smiled a little and said, "it will tire the sadness out I hope,"

"Alright," he said standing up and backing away.

She stood up too and stretched a little as they cleared away obstacles. After they had cleared everything out of their way and made as much room as possible, they began to circle each other in a combative posture.

"Are you going to use the Force on me?" he asked.

"No, not on you. But I might use it to help myself," she smiled.

Before he could respond she jumped and spun in the air and kicked him hard in his beskar chest plate. He backpedaled with an "Oof." After he recovered himself, he ran at her and swung his fist which caught her in the shoulder as she turned so that he missed her face.

They came together and grappled, grasping each others' shoulders and each attempting to put the other into a head lock. Din grunted in exertion. Suddenly, with a huff of a breath, she ducked, spun behind him, and pulled him into a head lock. She had to be using the Force to amp up her strength because there was no way she was stronger than he was, she was just too small. Frustrated at her gaining the upper hand, Din threw himself forward and threw her over his head. She flew over him but caught herself in a tidy pose as she landed.

Wasting no time, she came at him again. She threw herself against him aggressively and they both went crashing to the floor, but he quickly rolled his hips and legs up pushing her back the other way this time. Again, she slid across the floor and stopped just short of his weapons closet. The look in her eyes was intense and it looked to him like she was ready to finish the quick match. She came at him again and this time she threw her arm out and caught his neck in sort of offensive clothes' line and her knee went into his side under his armor. When he doubled over, she reached up with both hands grabbed his shoulders and pushed him face down to the ground, causing the ringing sound of his beskar on the permasteel floor to echo in the hold. She pinned him to the ground with her knees, and her hand on the back of his neck.

For a moment, they didn't move as they breathed heavily. But just as she began to let her guard down a little Din made his own finishing move. He reached back, grabbed the hand she had on his neck and pulled it to the side. Then he hooked his leg back over hers and spun them sideways so that he rolled on top of her and pointed a finger gun at her chest. She looked surprised for a moment, then she smiled.

"I feel better."

He smiled too and said, "Good. Me too."

"Even though you cheated," she laughed.

"What? When did I cheat?"

"When you flipped me just now. We were done."

"Were we? You didn't say so," Din smiled at her. He knew she hadn't used the Force much to assist her because she was a little sweaty, like him.

"Well," she continued to laugh, "we stopped. Perhaps I didn't call it…"

"Uh-huh. So I win," he said as he rolled off her and helped her up.

With a side-ways smile she sighed grudgingly, "I suppose, this time you win."

They sat on the floor for a few minutes, not talking. Ter'a broke the silence.

"Where are we going anyway?"

Din took a deep breath and said, "Kashyyyk."


	17. Chapter 17 - Kashyyyk

**Chapter 17 – Kashyyyk**

"Kashyyyk?" she looked incredulously at him. "Are you sure?"

He sighed heavily. "Not really, but Gideon will be there no matter how long we wait to go. I figure we should just get it over with."

"Of course, that's true…" she said quietly with her brow furrowed.

"I'm ready for this to be over…" he said with his head bowed.

"Yes, the child needs stability and peace to learn. I'm just… nervous."

He looked up and squeezed her shoulder. "Me too."

The Crest pulled out of hyperspace and Din began the landing protocols to bring the ship in. There was a Wookiee settlement that was made famous during the Clone Wars and though it had been essentially destroyed during Order 66, Din knew that there were stubborn Wookiee's who still lived there. When the ship touched down, Din, Ter'a, and the child stood at the ramp waiting for it to lower. When it did, they blinked momentarily in the sun before heading out.

The settlement was in an advanced state of ruin, though there were clear signs of inhabitation, however slight. As they walked, Ter'a took Din's hand and held it. He didn't let go. On the contrary, he squeezed it reassuringly as they walked. However peaceful and calm things seemed now, they'd picked up Imperial signatures the moment they entered Kashyyyks airspace. Din knew that Ter'a was thinking was wondering the same thing he was, where were they? How long did they have? Since neither of them seemed to know, they walked on, hand in hand, on edge and ready for anything.

After a about twenty-five minutes' walking they heard a soft, purring "rrraaghhh," and stopped. Looking to the left, they saw the head of an older looking Wookiee, just visible through the thick massive tree trunks about ten meters away. Din released Ter'a's hand and they both raised their hands in a peaceful way and bowed their heads slightly in deference. The Wookiee waved them over urgently and they followed with a look over their shoulders. With the pod in tow, they jumped a few of the smaller tree trunks and met the Wookiee. He nodded his head lazily as was want for their kind he spoke in a soft, but urgent Shyriiwook. Din didn't speak Shyriiwook, very little of it anyway. It was one of the few languages he didn't know well, but he picked up a few words of what the old man said, and it wasn't comforting. Words like "why… here… danger… Imperial…" and what he thought might be "crazy," but he couldn't be sure. He was sorely wishing he had the IG-unit so he could translate but he was shocked and, despite himself, quite amused to hear Ter'a answer the elder. She seemed to speak fluent, or at least, competent Shyriiwook because the two spoke rapidly and in hushed tones for only a few seconds before the Wookiee seemed satisfied that they meant peace. He nodded amicably and waved them to follow him.

Din might have felt uneasy about trusting the Wookiee so readily, but Ter'a's unquestioning posture and the fact that Din knew what the reason was for this settlement to be in ruins made him sure that the Wookiee wasn't leading them to Gideon. The Wookiee, who Ter'a introduced to Din as Wullffwaroo and was well over two meters tall, ducked low as he gestured the pair and their pod into a low tunnel leaving the late morning sun behind. Once they were all in, Wullffwaroo led them along the earthy tunnel for about fifteen minutes before they emerged into a long, underground room. Once they were in here, Din saw about 20 Wookiee's sitting, standing, and moving about the room. They all seemed to be busy preparing for an upcoming battle. With a deep breath Din felt he might know what battle that might be, but pushed the thought aside as Wullffwaroo led them to the Wookiee who seemed to be the chief. He was the tallest and seemed to be overseeing the preparations.

Wullffwaroo lumbered to a halt behind this new Wookiee and waited. Presently, the leader turned and greeted him with a somber but pleasant Shyriiwook greeting as though they might not have seen each other in a while. They talked for a moment and while they did, Ter'a caught Din up in hushed whispers.

"So, I told him about the child and that we were running from the Imperials that came here recently. They want to fight them and kill them… or at least get them to leave, but they said they would provide a diversion for us as best they can to allow us to leave after we get the information we came here for. Wullffwaroo says that the chief, Kitwarr has some information he can give us based on the file from the Jedi temple."

"So he'll meet with us now?" Din was skeptical. It looked like the Wookiee's were in the final stages of prepping for battle.

Ter'a held up a finger and listened in on the Shyriiwook conversation.

After a few moments of joining in the conversation, she turned back to Din and said, "They're getting ready to send out the first wave now. But Kitwarr will try to meet with us first. If things don't go as planned, we might be stuck here for a few hours or days. Wullffwaroo says the Imperials still don't know about this hideout or where the Razor Crest is and they want to keep it that way… though it's probable they know we're here." She paused again, listening.

After a few more moments she added, "They say there are too many troopers for us to make it out if we're caught early in the battle. So, the first wave will have to be successful before we can try to leave the planet again."

She paused again while she spoke with Kitwarr. "Kitwarr says that he wants to see the first wave out and then he'll talk with us."

"First wave…," Din whispered to her looking around, "there's only a few Wookiee's here…"

Ter'a nodded, "There are about a hundred more above ground already waiting for the signal. As well as another 50 or so coming in through another tunnel system from another village. Wullffwaroo said they should be here tomorrow morning."

Reassured, Din asked, "That's at least 18 hours from now… Do they need help until then? We could hide the kid down here…"

"No, Kitwarr knows the importance of your mission and he wants to give you the information you need so we can go out and find the next puzzle piece."

They waited for a few minutes before Kitwarr went up to signal the first round of attacks to begin against Gideon's men. He was gone for some time and when he came back down, Din knew things weren't going to plan.

"What's wrong?" he asked Ter'a in an undertone as the chief reached them.

After a moment of talking to Kitwarr, Ter'a turned to Din and said, "the Imperials were getting pushed back in the first few minutes but they brought out hidden tie fighters and AT-ST's. The Wookiee's can deal with those, but not until the second contingent gets here with more heavy weaponry. Looks like we'll be here a bit.

Din sighed. They were pinned down. At least it seemed like they were safe for the time being. There were at least a hundred Wookiee's standing between them and Gideon, and since Wookiee's were worth at least three Imps, Din liked those odds.

Kitwarr motioned for them to follow him and they went through a roughly woven tapestry into a long tunnel hallway with many rough wooden doors leading off of it. Ter'a and Kitwarr talked, and Ter'a threw comments to Din as they were relevant or interesting. Din learned from her translating that this hallway held the Wookiee barracks and that Kitwarr was taking them personally to a room they could use during their stay.

Near the far end of the hall, Kitwarr held a door open for them and they entered a room set up as a very earthy sleeping quarter. The bed, Wookiee sized, would easily fit the both of them and it looked fairly comfortable. Kitwarr sat in one of the chairs at the small wooden table and asked Ter'a what it is was that they needed from him and if he could see the child.

"Can you show him the file?" Ter'a asked.

Din nodded and pulled out the data drive he got back from the Bothan slicer on Tatooine and handed it to Kitwarr. "This is all we have," he said somewhat pathetically. He wasn't sure how Kitwarr would be able to help, but the Wookiee got up and left. He came back a few moments later with a small datapad and inserted the drive and the information popped onto the screen. He looked briefly at the information before tossing the datapad down and speaking to Ter'a.

She nodded at his words and turned to Din. "He said that the information isn't enough for him, but he wants to see the child if possible."

Din nodded and slid open the pod with a push of the right button. Kitwarr tilted his head and got up, marveling at the little alien. He stooped very low and picked the child up from his pod. He held him at arms' length, then pulled him right up to his eyes before tossing him up in the air and cradling him down in his furry arms with a chuffing laugh.

Ter'a smiled at Din, but he wasn't sure yet why the Wookiee seemed so glad to play with the child.

After a moment, when Din didn't seem to catch on, and so Ter'a said, "He's knows him."

Din's furrowed brow belied his relief. Someone. Knew. The. Child.

Letting the thought sink in for moment, Din watched as the giant Wookiee gently teased the child and made him laugh. Then he said, "What? Are-are you sure?"

"Definitely," Ter'a positively beamed at him.

"How?"

Ter'a turned towards Kitwarr and spoke to him. The chief began to talk animatedly back to her, and they conversed for several minutes. The child's ears pricked occasionally at their chatter. When Ter'a made to speak to Din again, she seemed nearly overjoyed and she wore a bright grin.

"He knows the child because he knew Master Yoda. Yoda and his species had excellent relations with the Wookiees, that's what the reference to Kashyyyk might have meant. He met Kitwarr here when he was still small and apparently spoke fondly of the "younglings of his kind"… Jedi's I mean, not his own species. He would tell the young Kitwarr stories of the life of younglings at the Temple. Kitwarr says once he asked Master Yoda if there were any other Jedi that were of his own species and Yoda said that he knew of two in particular. Another Master, a female named Yaddle, _and a youngling named Grogu!"_

She finished with overflowing enthusiasm and Din found it contagious. The damned kid had a name! He felt happy to know after so many cycles of calling him 'kid', 'child', or just 'hey'.

Grogu. It was a strange name, but it was his. Din looked at the Wookiee and the child… Grogu. "Is he sure that this child is the one he was told about?"

But she nodded without consulting Kitwarr, "it has to be. I never saw any other of this species at the Temple. Which is strange because the species apparently had many Force-sensitives in the past… I know of Master Yaddle, but she wasn't around as much as Master Yoda. I never saw Grogu before but… I feel confident through the Force. There is one way to be certain…. Get his attention and say his name…"

Din was nervous, they were on the cusp of confirming an important key to the kid's background…

He turned to the child in the Kitwarr's arm and held out his hand and said as kindly as he could, "Grogu?"

The child made a cooing sound and held his hands out to Din. Kitwarr bent low to the ground and set him down.

"Grogu," Din said again, "come here, Grogu."

Every time he said the name, the kid's ears twitched, and his eyes widened in recognition as he'd squeal happily. There was no doubt about it, this child was Grogu, the little green alien that Ter'a's Master Yoda had told a child Kitwarr about many years before.

Din smiled widely in his helmet as Grogu waddled towards him and fell, giggling into his waiting arms. Din scooped him up and held up a finger so he could grab onto it.

Kitwarr and Ter'a began to talk again, but didn't get far, as an explosion on the surface shook loose dirt from the ceiling of the earthy tunnel.

As he ran out, Kitwarr told the pair to stay put.

Kitwarr was gone for some time but no more explosions went off nearby. While he was gone, Din, Ter'a, and Grogu sat together in contemplative silence.

Din was processing several things. First, the new information about the child. Din was overjoyed that he now had a name for him. He'd always wanted to give him a name, but it didn't seem right since he'd always felt certain that the kid already had one. He didn't want to erase his past. He was also still attempting to process the information he'd received about his own people. The Children of the Watch, Mandalore, The Way, Bo Katan… he still didn't know what he should do. He knew what he wanted to do… but was it the right thing?

Ter'a was thinking about the child. She was wracking her mind to see if she remembered Grogu from her days as a padawan. Any mention of him. She could think of none. She felt Din's pronounced happiness through the Force when Kitwarr recognized and identified the child, followed by his need for reassurance on the matter. When Ter'a confirmed it, Din's happiness soared again. She felt his affection for Grogu grow and she felt endeared to him. The pair had a special bond. Grogu trusted Din completely, and Din trusted Grogu, at least when he wasn't around something he could eat.

After a while Kitwarr returned. Ter'a and Din both sprang to their feet and approached him, and Din listened while the Wookiee and Ter'a conversed. He was always entertained and impressed when he heard Ter'a speak Shyriiwook but he only smiled to himself.

"Well?" he asked when she turned to him as Kitwarr nodded at the pair of them and left.

"Well… Kitwarr said that the other Wookiees are close. It's nearly nightfall now and it shouldn't be longer than 10 or so more hours until they arrive. In the meantime, they want us to stay hidden. Wullffwaroo is standing by in case we need to leave in a hurry as he knows the tunnel system best and will be ready to take us a roundabout way back to the Crest if we need it," she took a deep breath and continued. "The spies say they've hidden the Crest with foliage and shut down all the systems so no one should see or detect it, but they left a contingent of Wookiees there to fight and draw them away from the ship if they get too close. Kitwarr says he wants us to stay here. He left to get someone to bring us some food and drink."

She turned to the bed and pushed her bag over to sit down and pulled her legs up to cradle them. Din knew what she was thinking. This situation was a little close for comfort and he was suddenly antsy to get back to the ship and get the hell out of here, but now it seemed they were trapped here until the Wookiees could whittle the Imperial forces down enough for them to escape. He also knew that Gideon likely sent forces out to try and find the Crest. Knowing the formidable fighting abilities of the Wookiees, he wasn't too worried, but he usually liked more of a buffer zone.

He sat down next to Ter'a and pulled her into his lap, cradling her head with his hand. "You nervous?" he asked.

"Hmmm… yes and no…" she smiled confusedly. "Yes, because I think it would be crazy not to be cautiously nervous, but no because I have confidence in the Wookiees."

Din nodding in understanding. He felt the same. "I think after all the Empire's done to the Wookiees, they're going to be near impossible to get past, but, like you said, it'd be dumb not to be cautiously nervous."

Din pulled his glove off and ran his fingers through Ter'a's hair. It felt soft and it seemed to have been far too long since they had been intimate, but that wasn't strictly true. As he played with her hair, her eyes fluttered shut and she hummed contentedly and Grogu climbed into his pod for a nap.

Din pondered his various dilemmas. Now that they had a name for the kid, they could attempt to do some research on him. Din was only slightly disappointed that the Wookiees couldn't give them more than a name, but if they failed to find the kid's clan, at least they had something to call him. Din smiled down at Ter'a at the thought of Grogu's face whenever Din called his name. He loved hearing him say it and squealed in delight everytime. He thought for a while on how they might find more information on Grogu's past but kept coming up empty. After scraping the bottom of his mental wells, his thoughts turned again to Bo Katan, Kal Eta, and the other Zakkeg Mandalorians they'd met on Cantonica. Another Way. Other ways to live and still be called Mandalorian. He wanted to talk with Bo Katan and Kal Eta. He had many questions.

Soft, steady breathing shook him out of his thoughts for a moment. Ter'a had fallen asleep. He looked up at the datapad Kitwarr had left on the table. Sliding gently out from underneath Ter'a, he removed his cape and covered her with it before going to the table and retrieving the datapad, leaving his gloves on the table in its place, he returned to the bed. He slid up next to her on the other side of the bed. She immediately turned and snuggled into his side as he propped himself up against the wall behind the bed. Tangling the fingers of his right hand into her hair, he propped the datapad up on his left leg and began to do research on Mandalorian history.

About 30 minutes into his research, a Wookiee they didn't know brought a tray of food in to them. At Din's request, she left it on the bed next to Din so he wouldn't wake Ter'a. After she left, he ate wasaka berries and some of the bread by lifting his helmet slightly for each bite as he read and reread the histories.

After a few hours, he fell asleep and the datapad slipped from his fingers as his helmeted head fell heavily back against the earthen wall.


	18. Chapter 18 - The Choice (Din's POV)

a/n – Oooooh you guys… I'm really nervous for this chapter… I really hope you like it. It's probably going to be pretty shortish.

**Chapter 18 – The Choice (Din's Perspective)**

Ter'a woke with a start. How could she have fallen asleep here! They were nearly in a warzone after all. She sat up and saw Din leaning against the wall, dead to the world. He was breathing softly, and his right arm fell limply off her shoulder onto the bed. She saw the datapad and food tray next to him and reached for the plate of berries and bread, of which he'd left her half.

As she ate, her attention turned to the datapad which sat with the display still on. She reached for it and saw that Din had been reading Mandalorian history. With all that had happened recently she wasn't surprised. Based on his reading history. Ter'a surmised that he was going though some kind of identity crisis or difficulty with his beliefs. She wondered what she could do to help him…? Was there anything? She wasn't sure, but she was determined to help him get through this.

Right on que, Din said softly, "what do you think?"

Startled, Ter'a dropped the tablet. "Oh Gods, you startled me! …What do I think about what?"

"About the stuff I was reading…" suddenly, for the first time since she met him, she noticed Din seemed a little unsure of himself.

She sat up and straddled him, sitting across his thighs, she braced her hands on his chest and leaned close to him. "_I think_ you should live your life in the way you feel most happy and comfortable. _I think_ you shouldn't change anything about yourself just to please others. _ I think_ you should only change if it's something you feel in here," she moved her right hand and placed it over his heart, "that you want to change. _I think_ you should be proud of yourself, whoever you choose to be and however you choose to live your life." She paused and now she scooted closer to him and grasped both sides of his helmet and finished, "_I know_ that I'll be proud of you no matter what you choose to do. And _I know _that I'll stand by you _always_."

Din felt more at ease than he ever had. Her words flowed through him and she emphasized each word and looked into his eyes through the helmet. She meant everything she said. She wanted him to do only what he wanted… what he was comfortable doing. He knew now what he wanted. He reached up and wrapped his fingers around her wrists and squeezed them gently feeling deep adoration for Ter'a. He pulled her down so that their foreheads touched for a moment before he leaned back again and lowered her hands from his head and held her hands in his lap for a moment. He wanted to say something, but words seemed hard at the moment.

"Ter'a…," they were both looking down at their hands. "Ter'a- I… I…," he couldn't think of anything that seemed sufficient to express his feelings. He released her hands and reached up and taking a deep breath, he pulled his helmet off.

Setting the helmet gently on the bed next to them, he looked down at her. As always, she was being respectful and had her eyes closed tight and her head was bowed so he wasn't in her direct line of sight.

He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head up, but she didn't open her eyes. He smiled. "You can open your eyes. I-I think I want you to see."

But she shook her head. "I won't ruin your oath to the Creed."

He smiled more. "I learned about other Ways of the Mandalore. I think… I think I can show you my face and still feel like I'm adhering to the Way. Some Mandalorians only show their faces to those they're closest to, some remove their helmets whenever they feel like it, and others never do at all. But at the end of the day, they _all_ still proudly call themselves Mandalorian. I feel like, you… and maybe Grogu in time… I can trust to see me for who I am." He took another deep breath. "That's what I meant by 'what do you think….'"

She smiled, but still kept her eyes closed. "Are you sure? This isn't something we can undo…"

Rubbing a thumb across her cheek he was nervous but still smiling.

"I think," she continued, eyes still closed, but her face softened, "that if this _really, really_ is what you want, I will follow you however and wherever you want to go. But how do you know that you're sure about this?"

"I- I'm… not… but," he paused for a moment before continuing trying to find the right words. "But, I am at the same time. I won't know how I really feel until after you look at me, but I don't think I want to miss the opportunity to experience looking into your eyes without my helmet on. He placed his hands gently on either side of her neck and tilted her chin up a bit more before lightly pressing his lips to hers for a moment before pulling away to look at her. He waited with baited breath.

After several moments of silence, he watched as Ter'a took a deep steadying breath and her eyes fluttered open. Her lips parted slightly as her eyes took in his bare face. Din was too afraid to move. He looked into her eyes as she looked back at him, waiting to see disappointment, fear, happiness, or whatever else might appear there. He sat frozen, refusing to make the first move, but he didn't have to wait long. He felt a warmth that relaxed him, and after a few moments of looking at him her hands came up and caressed his cheeks and she smiled broadly. It was a beautiful smile that he returned with relief. She looked down at his lips as her fingertips grazed across them and she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. Din returned the kiss passionately. He had been nervous that she might have said this was a mistake and that he should put the helmet back on, but she didn't. She smiled and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her, and they kissed for several moments before pulling apart.

Din was breathless, not only from the kissing, but also the adrenaline rush of revealing his face to her… the first living being since his was a young foundling first swearing the Creed. Now he was a bit nervous to see how he would feel when he made to return the helmet to his head, but it was worth it to see her with his bare eyes. When they pulled away, they didn't speak but only looked at each other for what was truly the first real time. There were no helmets, no masks, they both had their eyes open, and they both saw each other for the first time. He acted on a sudden impulse.

"I love you."

Her eyes widened comically, and her mouth fell open in surprise. "What?" she breathed.

He caressed her face, smiled, and repeated himself, "I love you, Ter'a." He realized he had for a while now… probably since Tatooine at least. It felt good.

She blinked rapidly for a moment before crushing herself against him in a Wookiee-like hug. When she pulled back, it was only just so, so that their noses were barely an inch apart. Touching his face with her fingertips, she whispered, "I love you too, Din" before kissing him again, softly.

They smiled against each others' lips and then laughed softly when a knock at the door startled them and Din slipped his helmet back on.

Kitwarr came in and told them that the Wookiees were about an hour away and that the fighting was intensifying. They needed to be ready to leave at the drop of a hat. He also said that he wanted to thank them for coming and that he was sorry he couldn't have hosted them in more pleasant circumstances. As Ter'a interpreted the Wookiee's words, Din began to formulate what needed to be done next. His brain wanted to think about what had transpired over the last little bit of time, but there would hopefully be plenty of time for that later. Now, he needed to focus on keeping his clan safe.

After Kitwarr was finished, Ter'a responded then translated her response to Din. "I told him thanks for his hospitality and the safety they provided. I also said we'll come back after all this is over and thank them properly for all they've done for us."

Nodding his approval, Din and Ter'a stood and began to gather what little things they had brought with them. The escape from Kashyyyk was going to be hasty when the right time came.


	19. Chapter 19 - The Choice (Ter'a's POV)

a/n – So, I had trouble with the last few chapters… I actually wrote several and deleted them bc I didn't like where I was taking it, so I wrote several more to flush out the story the way I wanted it. So you just got 4 more chapters all at once. I hope everyone is liking the direction.

**Chapter 19 – The Choice (Ter'a's Perspective)**

"What do you think?"

Startled, Ter'a dropped the tablet. "Oh Gods, you startled me! …What do I think about what?"

"About the stuff I was reading…" suddenly, for the first time since she met him, she noticed Din seemed a little unsure of himself.

Straddling him across his thighs, she braced her hands on his chest and leaned close. "_I think_ you should live your life in the way you feel most happy and comfortable. _I think_ you shouldn't change anything about yourself just to please others. _I think_ you should only change if it's something you feel in here," she moved her right hand and placed it over his heart, "that you want to change. _I think_ you should be proud of yourself, whoever you choose to be and however you choose to live your life." She paused and now she scooted closer to him and grasped both sides of his helmet and finished, "_I know_ that I'll be proud of you no matter what you choose to do. And _I know_ I'll stand by you _always_."

Ter'a felt Din's peace through the Force. It was profound. She sensed that he'd been plagued by this internal struggle more fiercely than possibly anything else in his life. Meeting the other Mandalorians had shaken him to his core. She had chosen her words with great care and emphasized each one so that he'd have time register and process each one in turn.

She wanted him to do only what he wanted…what he needed… what he was comfortable with. And suddenly she felt resolve in him and wondered what he'd decided. He reached up and wrapped his fingers around her wrists and squeezed them gently. Pulling her down so that their foreheads touched, they breathed together for a moment before he leaned back again and lowered her hands from his head and held her hands in his lap for a moment.

"Ter'a…," he whispered. She looked from his helmet to their hands where his own eyes seemed to be focused. "Ter'a- I… I…" With a sigh, Ter'a blinked as he released her hands and reached up.

The last thing she heard before automatically clamping her eyes shut was his deep breath followed by the air release as he pulled his helmet off.

She sat waiting patiently with her eyes closed tight and her head was bowed so he wasn't in her direct line of sight. But she felt him hook a finger under her chin and pull her head up. What he said shocked her: "You can open your eyes. I-I think I want you to see."

Ter'a shook her head decisively, "I won't ruin your oath to the Creed."

"I learned about other Ways of the Mandalore. I think… I think I can show you my face and still feel like I'm adhering to the Way. Some Mandalorians only show their faces to those their closest to, some remove their helmets whenever they feel like it, and others never do at all. But at the end of the day, they _all_ still proudly call themselves Mandalorian. I feel like, you… and maybe Grogu in time… I can trust to see me for who I am." She heard another deep breath. He sounded nervous but resolute. "That's what I meant by 'what do you think….'"

She smiled, but still kept her eyes closed. "Are you sure? This isn't something we can undo…" She knew that he knew what it was that he was telling her to do. He knew that if she opened her eyes there was no going back, but before she did anything, she was going to make doubly, triply certain that this was what he wanted.

He rubbed a thumb across her cheek.

"I think," she said softly, eyes still closed, "that if this is _really, really_ what you want I will follow you however and wherever you want to go. But how do you know that you're sure about this?"

"I- I'm… not… but," he paused for a moment as though trying to find the right words. "But, I am at the same time. I won't know how I really feel until after you look at me, but I don't think I want to miss the opportunity to experience looking into your eyes without my helmet on."

Ter'a was floored by his words. He had never been this honestly delicate with her. It was a sweet and soft moment she knew she would always remember. She felt him place his hands gently on either side of her neck and tilted her chin up a bit more before lightly pressing his lips to hers for a moment before pulling away. She knew that he had made his decision, and now he awaited hers.

She did some quick thinking. She always swore to herself that she would trust him and follow his lead in where he wanted to go when she realized all that time ago that she had developed feelings for this Mandalorian. She'd just finished telling him, she'd follow his lead. She couldn't back down… not without hurting his feelings. But was that what it would be? Or would it be out of respect for the oaths he'd taken… which was more important? She wondered too if she was being impartial enough. She wanted to see his face, but would she open her eyes so that she could be selfish and look at him or because he'd asked her to?

Feeling out with the Force she felt that she knew the answer and was only second guessing herself.

After several moments of silence, Ter'a took a deep steadying breath and opened her eyes slowly. Her lips parted slightly as her eyes took in his bare face. Din was extremely handsome. He had the dark hair and brown eyes she'd guessed before, as well as lips that looked as soft as she knew they felt. He had some light 5 o'clock shadow and some worry lines from a brow that she assumed was furrowed quite often. Din looked hardened yet soft. He had the kind eyes of someone who saw many horrors but maintained their humanity. He was perfect.

She saw that he was frozen. Afraid to move. Though his eyes searched hers furiously, looking for her reaction. Perhaps he thought she would judge him harshly? She reached out and comforted him through the Force and he relaxed slightly. Then her hands came up and caressed his cheeks and she smiled widely. He relaxed further at her smile and returned it with relief. He had a dashing, crooked smile. She looked down at his lips as her fingertips grazed across them and she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. Din returned the kiss passionately. She melted against him as he wrapped his arms around her, and they kissed passionately.

Ter'a realized the gravity of the situation. She was the first living being since his was young, first swearing the Creed, to have seen his face. When they pulled apart, they didn't speak but only looked at each other and saw each other for the first time.

"I love you."

Her stomach bottomed out and her heart rose into her throat. "What?" she breathed with wide eyes.

"I love you, Ter'a," he repeated softly.

She blinked rapidly for a moment before she pounced on him with her full weight in a crushing hug. When she pulled back, it was only so that their noses were an inch apart.

"I love you too, Din" before kissing him again, softly. She loved him for quite a while. She wasn't sure at the moment when she had fallen for him, but it had been a comfortable feeling she'd grown accustomed to.

They smiled against each others' lips and then laughed softly when a knock at the door startled them and Din slipped his helmet back on.

After Kitwarr left, Din and Ter'a stood and began to gather what little things they had brought with them. The escape from Kashyyyk was going to be hurried when the time came.


	20. Chapter 20 - The Fight

a/n – I still have about 9 plot points that I think I want to use so there will be at least 4 or 5 chapters still to go? We'll see. Things are definitely happening now though and Din and Ter'a will really need to rely on each other to get through!

I hope everyone liked the last four chapters. I know I posted them all at once, so I didn't have a chance to see what everyone thought before I started this chapter, but I think the direction is good so far.

I have school finishing up here this week and next week, so with finals coming up, I might not write that much over the next week and a half or so, but we'll see how it goes.

Anyways, this chapter is a DOOZY.

**Chapter 20 – The Fight**

Din and Ter'a were on pins and needles waiting. The second contingent of Wookiees arrived about 45 minutes ago and the fighting audibly intensified above ground. The sounds of TIE fire and AT-ST cannons sounded muffled through the earth, but it was unmistakable.

"What do you think?" Ter'a asked Din.

He shook his head, "Not sure…" he paced, unable to remain still for longer than a few seconds at a time.

"Even if they gain the upper hand, it'll probably take a bit of time," Ter'a spoke more to herself than Din but he responded anyways.

"We should give them at least another 45 minutes… but I hate sitting here waiting."

"They want to keep us safe… they want to keep Grogu safe."

"We can contribute to the fight though," Din was getting frustrated.

"I know that, and so do they, but they know we need to get out of here to complete the mission."

Din sighed. He knew she was right… but it didn't sit well with him to wait while others fought his battles. He thought of Grogu though and took a deep steadying breath. If anything happened to the kid because if his own pride… he'd never forgive himself. So, he resigned himself to wait.

A few seconds later Wullffwarro burst through the door without knocking. He was already talking before he came all the way through the door.

Ter'a looked back at Din, "he says the Wookiees broke through the Imperial line! It's time to go!"

Wullffwarro was already running back out through the door when Din and Ter'a began to follow. They followed him to a wall where a pair of Wookiees pushed aside a shelf of supplies to reveal a hidden tunnel. Wullffwarro ushered them in and the Wookiees closed the entrance to the tunnel behind them. Thrown into darkness for a moment, Din switched on a flashlight, Ter'a switched on her lightsaber, and Wullffwarro held up his own lamp, and they began to jog down the tunnel.

The tunnel went on for what seemed like kilometers and kilometers. Din was getting tired and was feeling stifled in the narrow tunnel, which wove and rose and dipped and turned every which way.

At one point he panted, "How much further?"

Ter'a relayed his question to the Wookiee, who responded only to say that they were taking the long way which was significantly longer.

Two hours later, Wullffwarro slowed to a sauntering walk and stopped at the ending in the tunnel.

Even Ter'a was out of breath as they stopped, and she put her hand on her hip and leaned back to catch her breath.

She conversed briefly with the Wookiee before turning to Din.

"He says this tunnel comes out about a half-kilometer from the Crest. If we run straight when we come out, we'll run right into it. He also says that we need to hurry in case the tide of battle turns."

Without waiting for a response from Din she turned back to Wullffwarro and hugged him tightly, which he returned. She then gave him what Din assumed was a rushed thank you and farewell. The Wookiee then pushed on the wall, which turned out to be one of Kashyyyk's massive tree trunks, and the sunlight poured in.

As they ran out, Din patted the Wookiee thankfully on the arm and said, "Thank you for everything," and they ran for it.

They met no one on the way back to the Crest but Din felt confident that they were always in the sights of at least one crafty Wookiee spy.

When they got to the Razor Crest, the pair began to pull foliage off of it. The Wookiees had done an excellent job covering it. As they worked, four Wookiees emerged silently from the tree line and began to help them.

Once they finished, they said goodbye to these Wookiees, thanked them, and disappeared onto the ship.

As soon as they were inside, Din initiated the lockdown protocols, just in case, before they strapped in and fired up the engines.

Din raised the Crest from the ground, turned and headed away from the fighting. He was positive that they would encounter some resistance as they left, but he was determined to get them the hell away from the Imperials.

Sure enough, they ran into a TIE squadron just outside the atmosphere. Din fought them off and maneuvered the ship towards the hyperspace lane when he received an incoming transmission.

"I suppose you think, Din Djarin, that you have beat me?"

The voice of Moff Gideon on the comm caused Din to roll his eyes angrily.

"I will follow you and chase you to the edges of the galaxy and back until you either give me what I want, or I take it from you by force."

"You're not getting anything from me," Din snarled into the comm.

"Come on Din, you're a reasonable man. Despite our… disagreements… my offer on Tatooine still stands. Give me the Jedi. I will leave you and the child alone. You know there is nowhere you can go that I can't… and won't… follow."

Din didn't respond. Instead, he sent the Razor Crest flying into light speed, towards their next destination. He knew that Gideon and his Imps had followed.

Ter'a said nothing while Din exchanged words with the Moff. Being his new target made her feel violated. She was appreciative at the venom with which Din spoke to him. She knew that he'd die to keep her safe, but she didn't want that either.

"Where are we going?"

Din, who was incensed from his exchange with Gideon, said shortly, "Nevarro," as he stood up and made for the ladder.

"Nevarro?" her brow furrowed as she got up to follow him.

"Yes," he replied as he slammed a pot on the stove in the galley.

Ter'a wanted to question Din's choice but he was far too angry to be pushed at the moment, so she let the matter drop for now. She'd attempt to bring it up later when he'd calmed down.

Instead, she came behind him and rubbed his arms. He was tense and did not relax when she rubbed him, so she stopped. Perhaps he needed space.

Many hours later, Ter'a sat looking out the viewport at the hyperspace tunnel with her head in her hands. Din did not seem any calmer all these hours later. She even perceived that he began to get a tension headache from his still seething anger, but his rage did not abate. In fact, he seemed to become angrier, so she gave him space.

He came up the ladder and said nothing, but waited until she stood from him chair. When he sat down, he checked the systems and breathed heavily for a moment. She could see that he was finally attempting to relax, but he seemed unable. His anger had taken control of him for the time being. The hyperspace timer said that they had only a couple more hours until exit and still she hadn't brought up his choice of travel destination. She decided it might be now or never.

With a deep breath she placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Are you sure we shouldn't go into hiding for a bit? Nevarro seems an obvious destination."

"I don't want to hide. I want to kill him."

Ter'a understood, but she was also trying to think about handling this in a logical way that would give them the upper hand tactically.

"Surely that's where he assumes we're headed? Perhaps we should be cautious?"

Din had reached the end of his tether with Gideon it seemed, and his anger spilled out and she stood right in the crossfire, so it washed over her instead. He yelled, "He's following us anyway!"

He stood abruptly, causing her to take a step back. "I'm sick of running from him! I'm gunna kill him, I'm gunna kill the Imps that stand in my way, and I'm gunna kill anyone else to stands between me, you, the kid, and our safety!"

"I understand, but running blindly into the situation in anger won't help anyone."

"I don't care," Din spun to face her. He came closer than was necessary and when he looked down at her and spoke it was as though he was explaining something to someone very slow, "He. Will. Kill. You."

Her mouth fell open and she was offended that he didn't think she knew that.

"He will kill you if he catches you Ter'a. And I _will_ _not_ let that happen."

She tried to remain calm, but he was starting to frustrate her. "Don't you think I don't know that? Do you think that I couldn't see the way he looked at me on Tatooine? Like I was some kind of gift from the Force that could restore the Empire? Of course I did! It made me feel sick to see the way he looked at me!" She felt her anger beginning to take over more than she was comfortable with. Not at Din, but at Gideon as she recalled her run-in with him on Tatooine.

"That's why I'm going to take the fight to him. I will die before I let him lay a hand on you," Din pushed past her and slid down the ladder. She followed.

Now she was angry at Din. He was going to go to Nevarro and be reckless on purpose.

"If you think going to Nevarro and fighting him just because you're sick of running, you're… you're just being stupid and reckless!"

She hadn't meant to say it, not the way it sounded, but she was terrified at the thought of losing him and that fear brought out the Dark side, and she knew she was now treading a dangerous and fragile path.

"Stupid?! Reckless?! You think I'm stupid? And reckless?" Din rounded on her. "I'm doing this to protect you. I'm doing this because I love you!"

"If you love me, you'll make better choices!" she threw her hands up breathed deeply, trying and failing to check her growing anger.

"If that's how you feel, maybe I'll drop you off somewhere and handle this myself. You'll be safer that way anyways."

"Don't I get a say in this?! I am not leaving you to deal with Gideon. I am not going to let you run into fire and hell to keep me safe. You _know _that I can handle myself!"

"And what about the kid? If something happens to you, he'll be all I have left… and then if I lose him? Then what?" He paced back to the ladder and climbed up as the hyperspace timer beeped. "If I lose both of you then it will all have been for nothing!"

"You can't control destiny! What will be is what will be!" Ter'a was exasperated, not only was she fighting needlessly with Din, but now urgently with herself. The Dark side of her was licking at the edges of her consciousness and her coherence started to grow a bit fuzzy.

Din spun in his chair and pointed his finger aggressively at her, losing his temper, "Don't talk to me about destiny and the Force. I don't care about that. I care about you and the kid and your safety!"

The Darkness pulled at her and her head twitched involuntarily to try and stave it off, but it didn't work. Despite her true self, her eyes narrowed at him, leaned close to his face, and she said in a dangerously soft voice, "Don't you talk to me like that. The Force is the path of my life, it guides me. You don't understand it, you can't wield it, and yet it binds you to everything else just like it does to me." With each word, the Darkness began to flood through her and overtake her consciousness as the ship lurched out of hyperspace and the Nevarran landscape loomed into view. The Light part of her mind was losing its ever more feeble attempts to retake control of her mind and the Dark side now told her what to say instead, and then suddenly, the Darkness had taken over completely.

"I'm trying to keep you from making poor choices, and you misdirect your anger for Gideon onto me. I won't let you get us all killed because you follow your own selfish needs. If that's how you're going to behave, then I don't need to be here with you at all."

The Light part of her mind, however small it had become, realized she'd said something extremely hurtful, but the Darkness overpowering told her what she said was what needed to be said. Only part of it was true though… the part about trying to get him to make good choices… the part about not wanting to be with him was abjectly wrong. She'd die with him… for him… even over something stupid. She felt his hurt explode violently through the Force. The Dark side of her had hit a nerve on purpose, to be hurtful, and it caused the Light to explode forcefully back into her mind and wrest control from the Darkness, which fled back to the deep corners of her consciousness. She became herself again, but too late. She had said words that she couldn't take back.

Silence rang out in the ship as they looked at each other. The child sat on the co-pilot seat in silence, he knew something was going on and so he remained quiet.

Ter'a felt terrible. As her head cleared, she leaned back out of Din's face and stood up. She took a deep steadying breath, turned and lept down the ladder chute. She couldn't bear to stand here in the cockpit and feel the pain that radiating off of him, not like it lessened down in the hold. The hurt she had cast upon him radiated throughout the ship and soaked her and permeated her very soul. If she hadn't felt so terrible about the things she said, the Light might have had a fighting chance, but the despair she felt now, his profound and utter hurt… it made the Darkness flood back with more vigor and strength than before. But this time it wasn't directed at Din. It was directed at Gideon. She was going to kill him for causing the hurt that now coursed through the ship.

Din was positively seething with anger, hurt, and pain. Mostly hurt. Deep penetrating, crippling, vomit-inducing hurt. He felt incredibly guilty for yelling at her. He wasn't mad at her, he was just mad. Mad that Gideon would certainly kill her through experimentation if he got his hands on her, mad that he'd already tried to kill the kid, mad that he couldn't just be left well enough alone, mad at himself for taking his anger out on her… he was just mad.

Ter'a looked taken aback when he initially finished yelling. She looked hurt. He felt awful, but was still too angry to apologize, though that was a terrible excuse, and it cost him dearly.

She tried to talk to him, but then she lost her temper too. He saw a change in her that disconcerted him… like her mind snapped and that Darkness he'd seen briefly had taken over. He even thought he might have seen her eyes flash red as she spoke dangerously in his face. Before he knew it, the force of her anger made her say something that made him feel like the bottom had fallen out of his stomach. His heart leapt into his throat and suddenly he couldn't breathe. She told him that she didn't want to be with him. That he was being stupid and she didn't want to be a part of it.

Din couldn't remember feeling this kind of pain ever. Not even when his parents had died. He felt like his whole world had fallen apart. As he guided the ship down, he felt numb. Like nothing mattered anymore…

_But it did matter_, he realized. Ter'a might not love him anymore, he didn't know… but he still loved her, and Grogu still depended on him for survival. He would still fight for them both. Maybe she would realize that he was still worth loving after all.

The ship touched down just outside of the settlement and before he even had the chance to stand, he heard the ramp lower and knew that Ter'a was gone.


End file.
